True My Heart
by Neyuchi
Summary: Their first meeting was purely coincidental. Well, she thought it was before it spiraled into something more than that. Years later after hearing nothing from one another, problems arise without the other knowing. She's a high school student running away from danger, and he's a teacher full of secrets. But that won't stop them.
1. It Must Be Destiny

Back with a new fanfiction! That's right, Pandora Hearts! I don't know this fanfiction might turn out, but just in case it happens, the characters might be a bit OOC. Read and review, please? Thanks, and enjoy!

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**True My Heart**

**December 24 – Christmas Eve**

-x-x-x-x-

As the morning sun rays shone through the stone windows of her room, a petite brunette, the age of eleven, rose from her bed and opened her lavender eyes, blankly stared at nothing in particular. Her long, dark brown hair was a complete mess, sticking out here and there.

She stretched her arms above her head before she crawled out of bed, her sheets and blankets in a jumble.

Three short knocks were heard on her wooden door before a maid entered the room. "Good morning, Alice!" she greeted with a warm smile.

Alice, the eleven year old brunette, smiled happily back. "Good morning, Miss Tabitha!"

Tabitha, the maid, was in her early 20's with shoulder-length black hair and kind brown eyes. Her skin was pale white and she was kind of tall. She was a really warm-hearted person who loved Alice as a little sister.

"I see that you've just woken up. Did you have a good night's sleep?" Tabitha asked, walking over to Alice's messy bed.

The young brunette smiled and nodded. "Yep. I had a dream of lots of tasty meat! A room full of them!" she replied.

Tabitha laughed. "That sounds so like you! I hope you don't get fat from eating meat 24/7!"

Alice shook her head, her brown locks swinging. "Nope! I never get fat! Besides, I'm always in shape!" she said, pointing a finger in the air, kind of doing the peace sign.

"Oh really? I hope so! Well, hurry and wash your face. Breakfast's waiting," Tabitha said, turning to Alice's bed.

"Okay." Alice padded into her bathroom that was conveniently attached to her room. Reaching for her toothbrush, a thought struck her mind. "Miss Tabitha?"

"Yes, Alice?"

"What's today?" Alice asked, turning on the faucet and sticking her toothbrush in her mouth.

Tabitha thought for a second until she replied, "December 24th I recall. Oh! I forgot! It's Christmas Eve!"

Alice rinsed her mouth and washed her face with the cold water. "Yay! I can't wait until tomorrow morning!" she exclaimed happily, bouncing out of her bathroom. "I hope there's lots of presents for me!" Yes, people, Alice still believes in Santa Claus. Fear her! Just kidding! She just likes to get the presents is all. That's the best part of Christmas, right?

Tabitha smiled and pulled out a fancy dark red dress from Alice's wardrobe. It was frilly and it showed a lot of neck and the top of her chest. After she dressed Alice, she sat the energetic girl down in front of the mirror, before grabbing a brush and other hair accessories. She started to brush out the tangles in Alice's long dark hair. "Oh, I'm sure there will."

"Really? Yay!"

Tabitha braided the hairs on each side of Alice's head into long plaits and when she was finally done, she stood Alice up. She took a step back to observe Alice's look, and when she was satisfied with Alice's look, she smiled at the brunette and said, "You're so cute, Alice! I bet you'll grow up into a beautiful young lady! Do you have boys at your school who like you?"

Alice raised her hands a little, counting off the numbers of boys. "Um..." She looked up and said sheepishly, "Over thirty?"

Tabitha sweat-dropped. "O-Oh really?"

Sure, Alice was a cute little girl alright, but how in the world can a 5th grader get so many fan-boys? Shouldn't that be when you're in middle or high school?

"Yep! But I don't know them, let alone liking them. They're really annoying though." Alice frowned. "Yeah, I want them to go away, but I don't want them to go crying home to mommy. On second thought, I'd like to see that..." An evil smile started to form on Alice's mouth. _'Then I'd hang them up on a flag pole wearing nothing for the world to see. Hehe...'_

"Ah ha ha..." Tabitha shook the urge to crawl away. "Well, um, let's go downstairs, shall we?" she asked.

Alice snapped out of her evil thoughts, and looked up at Tabitha with a smile. "Okay!"

They walked downstairs and into the grand dining room. Servants and maids immediately started to hustle about when Alice entered. Alice sat in one of the chairs and a maid served the brunette the usual, a plate of juicy meat.

Alice's eyes sparkled at the sight of it, and in the blink of an eye, Alice was hungrily chomping away. Pieces of meat stuck to her chin, and her hands were full of meat. Her cheeks were full of meat also.

Tabitha almost laughed at the sight. "Don't eat too fast, Alice. It's not good for you," she warned.

"I know, I know. " Alice continued to eat her food, happily savoring each bite.

-x-x-x-x-

When Alice was done with her breakfast, well, I'm not sure what you'd call eating meat for breakfast is, Alice ran outside, a small basket in hand.

A thought struck Tabitha's mind and she ran after Alice. "Wait, Alice! The Vessalius' are going to be coming over soon for a while so make sure you come home soon, okay?" she shouted.

Alice stopped and gave a smile to Tabitha. "Alright!" And off Alice went. Tabitha sighed and shook her head before walking away to do her duties.

Alice ran to her favorite place that was close to her mansion. "Pretty!" she breathed out when the place came into view.

It was a lake. A pretty big one too. Healthy, green trees surrounded the lake, and birds chirped and flew over them. The water was sparkling blue, reflecting the sun's soft rays off its surface. A small wooden dock had a small canoe tied to it, bobbing gently over the lake's waters.

Alice walked onto the dock and slipped off her shoes and socks before putting them to the side so she wouldn't get them wet. She set her basket down next to them. To her surprise, another pair of shoes and socks were close by.

_'Is someone else here?'_ she thought, looking around. There was no sight of a human around. Shrugging, she sat down on the edge of the end of the dock and sank her feet in the cold water. She almost yelped in surprise and draw back her legs at the coldness. She swished her legs through the clear waters, glancing at the small school of fish that swam by. She then closed her eyelids and relaxed, her arms behind her, holding her up as she leaned against them.

A moment of silence washed over her and the lake, and she smiled. Ah, peace... That is, until she heard faint bubbles coming from the water. Alice opened her eyes and pulled her legs up. She folded them under her and she leaned on her hands in front of her as she leaned in close to the clear water, peering through to see if anything was down there.

All of a sudden, something surfaced quickly, surprising Alice and she shrieked, almost falling head-first in the lake.

"Yes! One minute under the water!" she heard a voice say.

Alice looked at what had surfaced from the water. It was a young boy. His spiky, blonde hair dripped water and he had bright emerald eyes. He looked to be about twelve or so years old and he wasn't skinny or fat. Despite being soaked to the skin, Alice thought that he looked quite cute for a boy. She instantly blushed.

Even though the blonde-haired boy wasn't facing Alice, he noticed her. Yep, she was that attractive to his eyes.

"Um..." They continued to stare at each other, lavender staring at emerald.

"Oh... Um, hey!" the blonde-haired boy said.

Alice blushed in embarrassment and kicked herself mentally for not saying anything and for staring at him. She stood up and bowed a little politely, her bangs hiding her burning face. "H-Hello."

"Sorry if I scared you. I didn't know that you were there," he apologized, swimming to the dock.

Alice immediately raised her head and shook her head. "N-No, it's okay!" She held out her hand when he was about to raise himself out of the water. "Let me help you up."

"Thanks," he said, grabbing her hand. She pulled him up with little difficulty since his hands were wet.

"By the way, my name's Oz. Oz Vessalius!" he said, giving her a grin and holding out his hand for a hand-shake.

Alice smiled. She grabbed his outstretched hand and said, "Nice to meet you! My name is Alice Baskerville!" _'Wait, Vessalius?' _She glanced at him. "Vessalius...? You're the one who's coming to the Baskerville's residence?"

Oz was wringing out his soaked clothes and he looked at Alice with surprise. "Yeah... How'd you know?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Hello? There's a Baskerville who just introduced herself in front of you. Ring any bells?"

"Oh!" Oz laughed. "Sorry! Sorry! Forgot about that for a minute there." He turned his back to her and grinned. "But nice! Who knew the Baskerville's daughter was beautiful? And just my luck!" he said to himself, making Alice stare at him curiously.

"Alice," he repeated, making Alice look up at him in wonder. He turned around to face her. "That's a pretty name for someone as pretty as you," he said, grinning. He pulled out a rose out of nowhere and stepped up to her, placing the rose behind her ear. "Just beautiful. Suits you."

Alice's face went beet red. "T-Thanks, Oz..." she stammered out, completely flustered.

Oz's grin went wider. How she said his name was perfect as it rolled off her tongue. _'Aha! So my type! I'm so lucky!'_

Noticing that he was about to turn into his fan-boy mode, he regained his posture and continued to wring out his clothes. Alice noticed and turned to the basket she had carried with her, digging through the stuff she packed in there. "Here," she said, pulling out a towel and handing it to him.

"Oh, thanks," he said, taking the towel from her. He started to towel his wet blonde hair. "Do you come here often, Alice?" he asked, trying to make up a conversation.

"Yep, almost everyday," the brunette replied.

"Can you swim?" he suddenly asked, hanging the now wet towel on a nearby branch.

Alice was a little surprised at the question. "Yes, I can. Why do you ask?"

He turned around to face her. "Oh, no apparent reason~" he replied, skipping over to the brunette, a smile on his face.

Alice immediately sensed danger as he neared. "W-What?" she asked, backing a little as Oz stepped up closer to her. _'Is he going to push me in?'_

And he did. He placed his hands on Alice's shoulders and pushed her back, with an evil smile on his face.

She shrieked as she fell backwards, but a thought struck her mind and she evilly grinned. Thanks to her quick reflexes, she reached forward and grabbed Oz's wrist. Payback, right?

"Huh? Wah!" He was suddenly pulled forward, and just like Alice, he fell off the dock.

They both hit the cold water, sending water splashing everywhere. They resurfaced, Alice laughing, and Oz with a frown on his face. A pile of seaweed was atop his head and drooped in front of his disgusted face, making Alice laugh harder as she held her sides under the water.

"Ha ha! You look nice, Seaweed Head!" she laughed out.

"Oh, how I feel the love in that compliment," Oz remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes and picking up the seaweed from his hair.

Alice's laughs turned into giggles. "You're so funny, Oz! Well, come on, let's get out of the water." And she swam towards the dock, Oz trailing behind her.

-x-x-x-x-

"That was fun!" Alice said as she sat back onto the canoe's floor, Oz sitting on the opposite side. She toweled her hair and ignored the fact that her dress was sopping wet. Tabitha was going to kill her when she finds out that Alice was swimming in the lake with an expensive dress on. But, hey, whose fault was that?

"Yeah, sure was," Oz grumbled, hanging over the side of the canoe. He still had a seaweed sticking to his hair and he was trying to wash it off. Too bad he didn't know where the seaweed was.

Alice noticed and she crawled over to boy. "Here, let me help you," she said, "Can you lean your head close to the water?" Oz did as told. She dipped her hands in the water and cupped a bit of water in her hands before she brought it over to a spot of seaweed on his head. She did that multiple times until his hair was wet. She was planning on shoving his head in the water, but then people who'd pass by might think that she was a murderer. She shook that thought away.

Grabbing an old towel, she rubbed his hair, pulling out the seaweed in his hair. Five minutes passed and Alice finally pulled out the last bit of seaweed in the boy's hair. When she looked at the towel, green was all over the place. Yeah, Alice was going to die and be sent to the very depths of Abyss when Tabitha finds out. Being a noble sucks.

"Okay, done!" Alice said, "Hold your nose, because I'm gonna push your head in the water so the green in your hair would come off." He plugged his nose and Alice shoved his head in, okay, forget about being a murderer, and she quickly pulled him back before he was going to drown. On second thought, he said that he was under the water for a minute, so it didn't matter if he was under the water for five seconds. She quickly toweled his hair and when she was done, she sighed in exhaust and sat back on the end of the boat, throwing the wasted towels by her basket.

"Gee, thanks, Alice!" Oz said, combing his fingers in his hair, sitting in the middle of the canoe.

"You're welcome."

Just at that moment, Tabitha appeared from the woods and she rushed over to Alice. "Alice! Have you been here the entire time for three hours? Did you forget about what I told you?" she said.

Alice gasped in surprise when she saw Tabitha. Uh oh. She abruptly stood up, intending to get off the boat.

"W-Wait! Don't stand-" Oz warned, but it was too late.

She was standing on the end of the small boat, and it wasn't smart to stand up on that side when someone wasn't sitting on the other end. So the boat almost tipped over, causing the brunette to fall backwards and back into the water.

_'Oh no, not again!' _Alice quickly closed her eyes and waited for the cold water to make contact with her back. But it never came. A hand enclosed on her wrist and yanked her back, which made her open her eyes in surprise.

She expected to mash her face on the wooden floor and possibly break her nose, but it wasn't hard. It was soft and kind of wet.

Alice's eyes went wider when she had comprehended on what had happened. Everything went slow-motion. Oz had quickly stood up and grabbed her wrist before she went down and he pulled her back, which caused her to fly back onto the boat. He landed shortly on his back and Alice landed a little up. Her legs were between his and his knees were up. Oz arms were wrapped around her and Alice's were on their elbows. All I can say is that, it was a really awkward position.

So right now, Alice's face was buried in Oz's hair and Oz's face was mashed against Alice's chest, which caused him to blush immensely. Hey, how can you blame him? Alice is going through changes.

Tabitha just stood there, completely shocked at the scene displayed in front of her.

"Um... Uh..." Oz's lips moved against her chest accidentally, and his hot breath touched Alice's bare chest, making Alice feel shivers down her spine. _'Great, Oz. If someone passes by and sees this, they'd think that this is sexual harassment.' _She quickly pushed herself off of her with a huge blush on her face.

"S-Sorry!" Alice stammered.

Oz sat up, a hand on his mouth. "N-No... I should apologize... S-S-Sorry about _that,_" he said, his cheeks turning a nice shade of red.

"I-It's okay, Oz! Really, no need to apologize! But..." She quickly looked down at her fingers that were poking at each other. "T-Thanks for saving me..."

Oz smiled and scratched his head nervously. "You're welcome," he said.

Tabitha finally snapped out of her shocked state and she glanced at Alice and Oz before resting on the blonde-haired boy. "That's you, Oz? My, my, you've grown so much from the last time I've seen you!" she said, stepping closer to the boat.

Oz looked up at Tabitha and grinned. "Nice to see you again, Miss Tabitha! It's been a while, has it?" He stood up and got off the boat, before turning to Alice and holding out his hand for her to take.

She stood up also, careful this time, and grasped his hand, climbing out of the boat with his help. "I'm sorry, Miss Tabitha! I completely forgot about the time!"

Tabitha sighed and patted Alice's head reassuringly. "No, it's okay. At least you were with Oz and not some strange boy." She glanced at the two kids. "I'm assuming that you two are acquainted with each other, right?"

They nodded.

"Good. Well, come on, let's all head back, shall we?" Tabitha said, kneeling down and picking up the basket and the dirty towels. Alice froze. _'Oh crap. Someone, shoot me now before Miss Tabitha kills me with her own hands.'_

"Alice?" Tabitha turned around and held the towel that was green with seaweed. "What is this?" A deep and skin-crawling aura surrounded the black-haired maid.

Alice laughed nervously and looked down at her feet guiltily. "Well, um, you see, Oz had seaweed in his hair and I cleaned it out... But I forgot that it would stain the towel... So... Yeah..."

"I see..."

A wave of silence filled the air. "..."

"Well, let's go back home!" Tabitha suddenly said, stuffing the towels in Alice's basket and walking away.

Oz and Alice just stared after Tabitha with a 'WTH' face. "That was..." Alice started.

"... Weird..." Oz finished.

"Yeah..."

-x-x-x-x-

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And that's the first chapter! So, how'd I do? Say it in your reviews! I can't say how much I appreciate it! So please! One little review is all I request from you!


	2. Christmas Surprises

Oh my gosh! Someone shoot me now! It's been so long since I've updated! Almost two months...I think? Anyway, so, so, so sorry! I've finally typed this chapter up, after endless days of being lazy and not doing anything. Hehe. xD Well, enough of my little rant. Enjoy Chapter Two!

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**True My Heart**

**December 25 – Christmas Day**

-x-x-x-x-

Alice woke up with a start on the crack of dawn. _Today's Christmas! _She quickly got out of bed and ran towards her door, only to skid to a stop and run back to fix her bed. After her bed was neatly done, she ran out of her room and down the stairs to the Christmas tree in the family room, where many presents were strewn about. She slid onto her knees beside the tree and started to look around for any particular presents.

"Oh! Hey!"

Alice jumped in surprise and looked up at the person in the doorway. It was the blonde-haired boy with the dazzling emerald eyes. "O-Oz?" Alice gasped.

Oz grinned and gave her a friendly wave. "Heya! G'morning and Merry Christmas, Alice!"

Alice smiled at his greeting and stood up onto her bare feet. "Merry Christmas to you too, Oz! You have presents from Santa Claus?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

The blonde couldn't help but laugh, causing the brunette to look at him strangely. "Gee, Alice, you still believe in the big ol' Santa Claus?"

Alice felt her face heat up in embarrassment. "N-No! I was actually referring to...um...uh...y-your uncle! Yeah, yeah! Your uncle!" she quickly stammered.

Oz raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Uncle Oscar? I don't remember him being Santa Claus before..." he muttered as he thought back on his memories.

"_Ozu~! Santa Claus has a present just~for~yoouuu~" Oscar Vessalius yelled out happily as he ran, no, danced up to the seven year old boy, a happy-go-lucky expression on his face._

Oz involuntary shivered. "Okay, you know what? I take that back..."

Alice giggled. "Told you!" she sang happily, glad that her lie was at least half truthful. She hopped onto her bare feet and walked over to Oz. "Come on! Let's look for presents!" she exclaimed, taking his hand and pulling him over to the Christmas tree. Even though she was just leading him, he could feel a faint heat on his cheeks at the hand contact. They kneeled down and started to search.

In the end, Alice had a whole pile of presents and Oz had a few. He shrugged it off, saying that he had more waiting at home. Alice, being the impatient one, grabbed a present and started to unwrap one carefully, trying not to rip the precious wrapping. Oz followed suit.

When the last of the tape was pulled off, the brunette pulled the wrapped off and set it aside. A cardboard box with a lid now lay in her lap, wide enough to put a full-grown cat in it. Alice curiously took off the lid and her eyes lit up. She let out a delighted squeal as she stood up with a long coat in her hands. It was red with white diamonds trailing down the side of the big-cuffed sleeves. It also donned a big white bow on the chest. When Alice tried it on, it made a big heap around her feet and her hands were hidden under the long sleeves. Apparently, it didn't fit her yet, but she couldn't help but giggle. "It's cute...but a bit big..."

Oz chuckled at her appearance. "Don't worry. When you grow up, you might be able to wear it," he reassured her with a comforting smile.

Alice agreed and smiled back. "Yeah, you're right! Well, let's go open some more presents, shall we?" With a nod of approval, they continued to open their Christmas presents. Alice had received more clothes and accessories from her friends and family, the same with Oz.

Now they both only had one more present to open. Both presents were almost the size of their palms and both were messily wrapped. They decided to open them at the same time at the count of three.

"All right. One... Two... Three!" they exclaimed in unison before ripping their presents open. Alice's eyes widened at her present as Oz's did the same.

In Alice's hand was a small locket. It was beautifully made and it's designs engraved on it were simple, yet they fit the locket. In Oz's hand was a golden pocket watch, it's size as big as his palm. It shined and his eyes studied the carefully-made designs on the cover. They both had a note attached to it, sparking their interest as they read it.

"'To Alice Baskerville. Merry Christmas! I hope we become good friends! :) From Oz Vessalius...'" Alice read, her eyes widening.

"'To Oz Vessalius. From Alice. I wish you a Merry Christmas! Do you like your present?'" Oz read before smiling up at her. "Of course I do! It's cool!"

Alice giggled at the happy boy. "Is it? It's one of my father's works. Here, look. This pocket watch also does this..." She leaned forward and pressed her thumb on a button that was on the side of the watch, opening it. She forgot that she still held Oz's present in her hand and when she had accidentally applied pressure to the side of it, it popped open.

Melodic music suddenly filled the room, perfectly in sync. Alice and Oz gaped and stared at each other in surprise as they recognized the tune.

"This is..." Alice started to say. "...the same music piece..." Oz finished for her. Alice nodded and one word slipped out of their mouths. "Lacie."

Mesmerized by the sweet yet sad tune, they closed their eyes and relaxed, letting the music calm their minds. A few more minutes passed until they decided to close their musical belongings with a satisfied click.

Oz then reached for her hand, taking the gift in his hands before standing up and walking behind Alice, who stared at him curiously. He parted her long brown locks to the side and put the locket over her head before clasping the two ends of the chains together. Alice blushed at his kind actions. When Oz walked stood in front of her, he studied her appearance before smiling and giving her a thumbs up. "Looking nice, Alice!"

"T-Thanks, Oz," Alice said, her hand reaching up and running her thumb over the bumps and edges on the locket.

Oz gave her a smile before he remembered something. "Oh!" He glanced at the tall clock standing in the corner. "It's almost nearing 7 o' clock. I think you should go change or something. You didn't brush your teeth, did you?"

Alice jumped in surprise. "How did you know?" she asked.

"Well, you're still in your night gown, oh cute gown by the way, and you have a bed head that looks like a huge poof ball, but they smell like lavender. And you have a red mark on the side of your chin," the blonde pointed out with an amused look. "Oh, and there's dried up drool on your chin."

The brunette could feel her face heat up in embarrassment as her hand slapped against her chin, rubbing away her dried saliva. "Ugh, you make me feel disgusting," she muttered in an annoyed tone. Her eyes scanned up and down the blonde, who was looking quite bright and clean in his nicely ironed clothes and neatly combed hair. "... You freaking neat freak..." she said under her breath.

Oz coughed. "Excuse me?"

Alice stiffened for a moment, thinking that he heard what she said since he wasn't even three feet away from where she was standing. Quickly shaking her head and sending her long brown locks flying from side to side, she gave Oz a big smile. "I didn't say anything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go get ready for today," she said, walking out of the room. To her surprise (and annoyance), Oz followed her.

After walking up stairs and passing hallways, they reached her room. Ignoring the boy behind her, she opened her door before entering, Oz on her trail. As Oz started looking around her room, Alice walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, clearly wanting privacy. Hearing the water run, Oz decided to be nosey and started to snoop through her things.

He looked through her shelves first. "...Huh. Dolls, stuffed animals, toys... Books..." Not sparking any interest in him, he proceeded to look through her drawers. Opening the small ones on the top, he found make-up and other hair accessories. "What's in here...?" he wondered, getting on his knees as he pulled the lower ones out.

A wave of silence filled the room as Oz felt a huge heat rising onto his cheeks. _'Underwear and bras...' _He quickly pushed it closed. _'Okay. TOO MUCH information there...' _Getting back onto his feet, he walked away.

He was in the middle of shaking a snow globe that had cute penguins, the fake snow bits swishing around them, when he heard the door knob make a rattling sound, indicating that Alice was about to open the door. He quickly placed the snow globe down and rushed over to her bookshelf, randomly picking one out and opening it.

The bathroom door opened and Alice came out, feeling refreshed and presentable, even though she was still in her night gown that had bright blue bubbles on it. She noticed from the corner of her eyes that something was moving on one of her shelves. Her eyes flickered over to the blonde boy, who was facing away from her and seemed to be interesting in the book he was holding. When she saw the book title, she almost burst out laughing. "What are you doing?" she asked, trying to suppress her giggles.

Oz looked up at her and answered, "Reading a book, duh."

An amused smile creeped onto her face. "Oh really~?" she drawled out. "Can you tell me why you're reading _'Green Eggs and Ham'_?"

"Huh?" Oz looked at her with a confused look as he glanced at the cover. Alice watched as his whole face went red in embarrassment. The boy quickly slipped the book back in its respective place before turning back to his friend with a sheepish grin. "Ooooops..."

Alice burst out laughing, tears of mirth forming at the ends of her eyes. "Geez, Oz. Nice try!" She wiped off the little tears and walked over to her wardrobe, opening it before searching through her clothes. After a few minutes of consideration, she picked out a velvety red dress with white frills. She then pulled out a Santa hat, just for Christmas spirit.

Oz watched her as she stood in front of the mirror, wondering what she was going to do. Alice's arms crossed and her hands fell to the bottom of her short bubbly-printed night gown, gathering a bunch of the silky fabric. She then paused and glanced behind her, seeing Oz blush and look away, a guilty look on his face. "Are you going to leave or stare at me as I change?" Alice asked.

Embarrassed, the boy muttered out a, "I'll see you downstairs, then." Then Oz quickly strode over to her door, opening it before slipping outside and closing the door.

Alice sighed in relief, finally having peace. She then continued to change out of her night gown, feeling the cold winter air prick her bare skin. She slipped on the long red dress, smoothing it out before reaching for her brush and brushing out her hair. Satisfied with her long hair, she slipped on her socks and placed the Santa hat sloppily on her head before standing up. Alice walked over to her bedroom door, opening it and closing it as she left the room.

She found Oz sitting on the bottom of the steps, absently staring out the window, a piece of toast in his mouth. "Hey," he said, glancing over his shoulder at her. "You look...cute..."

Alice blushed at the compliment and sat down next to him. "Thanks."

"Hungry?" he asked, holding out a plate with one toast, jam splattered on top of it.

Alice thanked him again, gratefully taking the toast and biting into it. Crumbs of bread fell onto her lap as she ate the whole piece of bread in two minutes. Licking the jam from her fingers, she said, "You put too much jam."

"Hey, I like it that way," Oz retorted. "Besides, you eat too much meat. I'm surprised that you're not even fat."

An angry vein threatened to pop in Alice's forehead at that remark. Oz sensed a deep and dark aura coming from the younger girl as she stood up and cracked her knuckles angrily. **"Excuse me. **Did you say something?"

Oz nervously laughed and averted his eyes somewhere as he started to whistle a random tune. His eyes landed on the windows and he noticed something outside. "Alice! Look!" he exclaimed, running over to the windows.

"What is it?"Alice snapped out of her angry mode and walked over to Oz, who was staring outside with amazed eyes. When she looked out the windows, she gasped,

It was snowing.

Without wasting another second, the two ran out the front door.

"Pretty!" Alice breathed out, her warm breath making a little cloud in front of her before disappearing. She held out her hand and snow slowly fell into her hand, dissolving into tiny bits of water.

"It sure is," Oz replied, amazed at the sight.

They raised their faces up to the sky, letting the snow land onto their faces as they watched. The snow was soon covering the earth and buildings with a white blanket. All they could do was stand there and watch in fascination.

Wanna know why it's so fascinating?

"I've never seen snow in my whole life," Alice confessed as she looked over at Oz, who lowered his head and winced after having it up for a period of time.

"Really?"

"Yep. What about you, Oz?"

Oz smiled and nodded as he crouched down and picked up a small handful of snow. "Yeah. My younger sister and I play in the snow sometimes."

"Eh? You have a little sister?" Alice exclaimed, surprised at the new information.

Oz nodded. "Yep. She's four years younger than me," he answered.

"And how old are you?" Alice asked curiously.

"Fourteen. Going on fifteen soon."

Alice exclaimed in shock again. "EH? You're fourteen?"

Oz shook his hand, sending cold water and snow in many directions. He then rubbed his hands together, trying to make the cold numbness go away from his fingers and palm. "Uh, yeah..."

Alice just gaped as she studied the blonde boy in front of her up and down. "...You don't look like you're fourteen... or act like one at all..." she mumbled.

The blonde-haired boy chuckled and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I get that a lot."

Alice crouched down and scooped up a handful of snow, almost dropping it back to the ground when the cold stung her warm hands. A devilish grin spread on her face as her hands formed a snow ball with the snow in her hands. When it took the form of a lop-sided ball, she stood up and turned towards Oz, who was busy staring out at the horizon.

"Oz-zu~!" Alice chimed, causing Oz to turn towards her.

"Yeah, Ari—UGHK!" Oz's sentence was abruptly cut off when a snowball came flying towards his face and hit him square in the forehead. He fell backwards and landed on his back on the cold snow. "Oww..." he groaned, twitching.

Alice giggled. "Oooops!" she playfully sang, lightly dancing around the fallen boy. She suddenly shrieked when she felt someone's cold hand grab her wrist and pull her down. The brunette again landed on something soft and warm.

Her back was against Oz's chest and her head rested against his right shoulder. She could feel his faint heartbeat beating lightly on her back and her hands were placed against her chest, feeling the quick pound of her own heart. Her red dress was splayed around their legs.

She blushed and was about to quickly get off of him when Oz's arms trapped her and prevented her from moving.

"Don't move. You're making it uncomfortable," Oz muttered. "Just chill and relax."

"B-But your clothes are gonna get wet!" Alice protested.

Oz closed his eyes and let his head rest on the snow. "I'll get up in a minute. It feels nice..."

Alice squirmed uncomfortably. _'How is this nice?'_ With her fingers tapping impatiently, she waited until a full sixty seconds passed. "Now can you _please_ let go of me and get up?" she asked.

Oz hummed a random tune, completely ignoring the brunette in his arms. "...Don't want to."

Alice felt her cool go off. "If you don't get up this instant, _I'm gonna kick you somewhere you don't wanna get kicked!_" she grounded out angrily.

"I'd like to see you try, Alice," Oz said, a smug smirk on his features.

Alice then started to squirm and wriggle out furiously, hoping that he would let go of her.

He didn't.

She flailed her arms and kicked her legs, but either they were locked in a tight embrace or they were too far down to be able to kick that very spot. "L-Let go of me, Oz!" she shouted.

Oz just kept his arms locked around her, amused at her futile actions.

As Alice continued to struggle, she suddenly brought her left shoulder up and made contact with something hard. "Ow!"

She felt Oz's arms let go of her and she rolled off of him, wincing when she felt her shoulder bone throb. "Ouch..." she said, touching her shoulder.

When she glanced over at Oz, she found him laying face-first in the snow, his hand between his mouth and the ground of snow. "Oz?"

The blonde boy twitched visibly before he pushed himself up to a sitting position, his hand still pressed against his mouth. "Ow... Danith, Aris! I bith my ton! Whied yuu hath ta thu that?" he angrily mumbled out.

Alice just stared at him in confusion, not understanding his words as she tilted her head to the side. "Huh?"

Oz groaned in pain and touched the tip of his tongue with his index finger, only to wince and pull his finger away. Alice gasped when she saw something red stain his finger.

"I said, 'Darn it. I bit my tongue. Why'd you have to do that?'" he repeated, a frown on his face.

Alice comprehended. _'Oh. Direct hit to my shoulder, and direct hit to his chin.'_ She huffed, turning away. "Your fault for not letting go," she retorted.

The blonde-haired boy sighed and shook his head before standing up. "It felt comfortable though. Here," he said, holding out a hand.

Alice took it and he helped her up. "Whatever," she said. "Let's go back inside." And with that, she started to walk back inside.

"...Alice!"

The said girl heaved out an annoyed sigh and turned around, only to see a snowball fly towards her face. "What– OW!"

Oz's playful laughter filled the air as snow fell off of Alice's hair and clothes. "Payback!"

The eleven year old fumed angrily as she felt a vein snap. Quickly scooping up a handful of cold snow in her small hands, she started to form it into a snowball. Oz saw what she was doing and grinned before running away. Alice ran after him, screaming, "COME BACK HERE, YOU BLONDIE!"

-x-x-x-x-

Alice was now having the life of her life, smiling, talking, and laughing the whole time. However, as they say, not all things last forever.

Soon, it was nearing dark and the snow was falling a lot more harder, causing the air to turn colder. The windows were covered in frost and could barely be seen through.

Alice, Oz, and their family members were lounging in the family room. It was big enough to hold about a hundred people squeezed together. On one side of the room, there were tables with food and drinks stacked on top of them. On the other side, there were chairs and sofas scattered here and there if your wanted to sit. In the front of them room, there was a burning fireplace that radiated heat to warm the room.

Oscar Vessalius, Jack Vessalius, and Alice's parents were sitting over on the side with the seats, happily chatting about this and that. Since whatever the grown-ups were talking about seemed to be boring, Alice and Oz decided to hang around the food, sampling each dish.

Alice took a small serving of grilled meat that was coated in some kind of sauce. She grabbed a knife and fork and proceeded to cut a little chunk of it off before placing it in her mouth.

"Oh, the sauce on that meat is one my family's secret ingredients. How's it?" Oz asked as he took a swig of fruit punch from his cup.

Alice chewed slowly, savoring the delicious taste before exclaiming, "It's delicious! I didn't know your family had a sauce like this!" She gave him a grin before eating another chunk of it.

Oz smiled at her response. "Is it? I'm glad that it doesn't tastes funky." He took another swig of punch before noticeably frowning. "This punch tastes...a bit weird."

"Really?" The brunette reached over and filled her cup with the punch before taking a sip herself. She noticed how it had a strong smell and how it left a weird tang on her tongue. The taste of the punch was also different from the normal taste she was familiar with. "It does..." Then it hit her.

"Someone spiked it!"

Oz's eyes widened and he tried to suppress the punch he was almost to spew out of his mouth. He grabbed a napkin and wiped off the drips from the corners of his mouth. "W-Wait, you mean someone put _alcohol_ in this?"

Alice set her cup down on the table and rolled her eyes. "Yes, dummy. What else did you think I meant?"

"N-Nothing. But...who spiked it?"

All of a sudden, big hands clamped down on their shoulders, scaring the heck out the two kids. "I did~!" a joyful voice sang out from above their heads.

They couldn't help but sigh and do a face-palm. OF COURSE. It was none other than Uncle Oscar. "You DO realize that we're only minors, correct, Uncle Oscar?" Oz said.

The bearded man stepped back and studied them. "Is that so?" he asked, scratching his short beard. "You two seem perfectly fine."

"That's because we didn't really drink a lot of it," Alice pointed out.

"Why don't you drink a bit more?"

"I JUST SAID THAT WE'RE MINORS," Oz hissed.

"But the experience is one of a kind!"

Oz scoffed. "Yeah, having a hangover in the morning is an _amazing_ experience~! No thanks," he said before dragging Alice away from his uncle. Alice just kept quiet, her plate of meat still in her hands.

-x-x-x-x-

A few hours passed and it was almost nearing 8 P.M.

Suddenly, Uncle Oscar and Jack stood up from their seats. "This has been a wonderful day, but we must be going. Thank you so much for your hospitality, everyone," Jack said, smiling.

Alice's parents stood up as well. "It was a pleasure. Please come and visit us once again if you have the time."

"Oh, we will. Well, we'll be taking our leave now. Come now, Oz." The young blonde nodded and walked over to his relatives.

_'Wait, he's leaving?'_ Alice trailed behind slowly. _'...What if he doesn't come back...? Or forgets about me?'_ she thought sadly, but she shook her head to clear the negative thoughts in her mind. "Oz..." she said sadly.

Oz turned around to face her, giving her a smile. "Alice."

Alice couldn't help but hug him and bury her face in his shoulder, inhaling his scent. "You'll come back, right?"

Oz was taken aback by her sudden action, but he soon relaxed and wrapped his arms around the petite brunette, patting her back. He buried his face in her hair, noting that it smelled like lavender. "Yeah."

They pulled away and Alice stared at him, unsure. "Promise?"

Oz nodded. "Promise."

Jack interrupted them by tapping on Oz's shoulder and whispering in his ear. "Why not seal it with a kiss?"

At that, the young boy felt his whole face burn. "Wh-What?"

Jack just grinned and pointed above their heads. Confused, Alice and Oz looked up.

A mistletoe was hanging over their heads.

"..." The two didn't say anything.

Uncle Oscar gleefully danced around them, throwing flower petals in the air with a happy-go-lucky expression on his face. "Go! Go, Oz, my boy!" Everyone was staring at the two, hoping that they would go with it and kiss.

Instead of going with it, they just stepped away from the mistletoe with dead-panned faces, completely disappointing everyone as they said, "Awwww..."

The blonde-haired boy laughed, making everyone look at him curiously. "Just kidding~!" he sang before leaning down and pressing his lips against Alice's in a chaste, yet sweet kiss. Everyone in the room suddenly brightened and cheered.

Alice just stood there, her eyes widening as she comprehended on what was happening. The blonde-haired boy that she had known for a day and a half was _kissing_ her! Even though it was just a peck.

But Oz had pulled away just as quick and Alice continued to stare, dumbfounded. "Don't worry, Alice. I'll come visit once in a while," he said, giving her a smile.

Alice snapped out of her trance and she watched as Oz tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear as he leaned in and planted a kiss on her forehead. "May destiny bring us back together again, Alice," he whispered in her ear before pulling away. He smiled at her parents and bid them good-bye before leaving with Uncle Oscar and Jack.

The brunette's hand absently reached up to her forehead, brushing her fingers against the skin Oz kissed. Her hand brushed against something smooth placed behind her ear and Alice picked it up.

It was a red rose.

She smiled and held it to her chest. Oz and his company were on their way home now, Alice could see from the windows.

"May destiny bring us back together again...Oz..."

-x-x-x-x-

* * *

So how was it? Good, or bad? I know that the summary said something about having a teacher and school, but these two chapters haven't said anything about it. Don't worry! On Chapter Three, that's where it starts! :) Oh, and I might not be updating any time soon, now that state exams are right around the corner for me. But I'll have another chapter up by the end of this month after the exams, hopefully! So review, review, review! It helps! Later!


	3. Destiny Did Bring Us Back Together

... You guys must really want to kill me, don't you? I AM TERRIBLY SORRY FOR THIS VERY LATE UPDATE! *bows* TT^TT I know, I know... It's been two long months. But I've been busy with other things... Really... I will still continue this fanfic, so don't worry! It's just that I'm busy drawing and building up my DeviantArt gallery, and such... My DeviantArt profile link is in my profile, so check it out! But I haven't had anything in there, save for one Deviation, haha... But I have another one, that I'm going to be making a video of for YouTube very soon, so check that one out too! Link's in profile description. :) Make sure you put who you are, (like if you're one of my readers and such), so I'll know who you are and won't ignore you, haha... Again, I am very, very sorry for being such a lazy bum and not updating sooner! Enjoy reading! :D (I think I suck at fluffiness...)

* * *

**True My Heart**

**Chapter Three – Fate Did Bring Us Back Together**

**April 5 – First Day of High School**

**x-x-x-x-x**

It was a beautiful day, to be honest. The morning sun peeking behind the tall, snowy-topped mountains, the birds chirping merrily as they flapped their wings, people walking and driving up and down the streets, and children dressed in their respective uniforms as they walked to their schools with excited expressions.

A young, teenage brunette walked down the streets, dressed in a gray school uniform. It consisted of a gray blazer with the school's emblem on the heart, a gray vest outlined in white, a white blouse, a blue tie, and a short gray skirt. She also donned black knee length socks and brown school shoes.

Her long brown locks swished and swayed side to side to the wind and every step she took. Her lavender eyes glanced over at this and that, observing the world around her.

Her long, pale fingers were brushing against a particular locket around her neck as she walked up the street to her school.

_'Four years has passed now ever since... I can still_ _remember that young boy who suddenly appeared at the lake. His bright emerald eyes and weird blonde hair. His joyful laughter and his dazzling smile. He was the one who changed my life. The one who took my first kiss...'_ She could feel her face burn up at the memory. _'And his last words before he left: "May destiny bring us back together again, Alice..."'_

He had visited her quite often after their first encounter. Day after day. But the days he visited became months...and then became years...and then until he stopped coming. She even came and visited his house, but his guardians told her that he was gone, studying over-seas. Why he didn't tell her that himself before he left, was something she wondered herself.

The brunette, Alice, now saw many students wearing the same uniform as her walking ahead of her. That indicated that she must be getting closer to her destination. Sure enough, the school gates were in view and she walked onto school campus.

The sight of her new school took her breath away. Her school was HUGE. Almost as big as her mansion! It was shining white and practically sparkling in the sun. Alice then wondered why they chose the uniforms to be a dull gray. Sakura blossoms were falling to the ground gracefully as the wind carried them, making the scenery a lot more prettier. All she could do was gape.

Realizing that she had been standing there and blocking the way of students, she quickly entered the school building. At first, she didn't know where to go, but was relieved that the front office was in view. After getting her schedule and other school information, she set off to her first class: English.

Alice wandered through the halls aimlessly for about five minutes, kicking herself for not asking for directions earlier in the office. Glancing at her schedule in her hands and then back up at the signs on the classroom doors, she tried to find out which classroom was the right one. Unfortunately, she was concentrated on finding her class instead of where she was walking and bumped into some random student in the halls.

"Oh, sor–" Alice was about to apologize to the student, but he rudely cut her off.

"Watch where you're going, chibi!" the student snapped at her loudly.

Other students nearby them noticed the loud outburst from the boy who called Alice a chibi. Some continued to stare, while some of them ignored them, thinking that it was another childish argument.

At that, Alice narrowed her eyes angrily. _'Chibi?'_ She studied the student in front of her, who seemed to be years older. A little bit on the muscular side, he had narrowed, fierce eyes with an angry expression on his face.

"What are you doing standing there like an idiot? Aren't you gonna apologize? Huh, chibi? Sheesh, little children are so dumb these days," the student sneered at her.

A chorus of shocked gasps was heard around them.

An angry tick mark appeared on Alice's head as her face darkened. By her side, she clenched a fist tightly.

"Oi! Are you even listening to–"

"CAN YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR ONE SECOND!" Alice yelled, slugging the student in the face, causing him to land onto his bottom on the floor hard. She took one step closer to the guy. "I _was_ going to say sorry, but I guess not to some jerk who thinks he's all that!" With one kick to his face, she yelled, "And don't call me chibi, you weak animal!"

The crowd surrounding them gasped in surprise at Alice's sudden comeback, and some of them cheered on, "Fight!"

"Excuse me! Fighting is prohibited on school grounds!" a girl's voice yelled out from down the hall.

Alice turned her head to see a teenage girl running up to them, her long blonde hair flowing behind her. She had bright, emerald eyes and pale skin. Two cats were running behind her, bows tied on their necks.

When the blonde girl reached them, Alice stepped away from the guy on the floor, who had a bleeding nose from her punch. Turning to face the girl, she crossed her arms, a frown visible on her face. "And who are you?" Alice asked rudely, not happy that someone had just interrupted her from beating the crap out of the guy still on the floor.

The blonde girl held out her arm and showed Alice the cloth pinned on her upper arm. The words 'Prefect' was emblazoned on it. Alice froze when she realized who the girl was, and all she could think of was,_ 'Oh crap.'_

"Miss Prefect!" the injured guy on the ground exclaimed. Alice resisted the urge to kick him in the jaw.

"As the school's prefect, I'm going to have to break this up," the blonde said. "Miss and Mister, please follow me to the office."

The crowd of students were still standing there, watching every move the trio were taking. The Prefect noticed that. "Get going to where ever you students need to go! Or do you want me to force you to...?" she yelled, shooting a fierce glare at them as a random whip with spikes came out of nowhere in her hands, causing the crowd to freeze at the sight before quickly walking away. In about five seconds, the crowd was gone.

A bright and cheerful smile graced her lips and she turned towards Alice and the boy. "Well, let's get going, shall we?" she asked, her voice sweet and smooth.

Alice shivered a little at the girl's weird appearances and followed after the blonde girl, who was walking towards the office. The guy with the bleeding nose stumbled after them, blood staining his fingers as he clamped them onto his presumably-broken nose.

Now, the trio were at the front desk, waiting for the headmaster to appear from his office. The nurse had treated the guy's nose, and to Alice's displeasure, it wasn't broken. The brunette sighed. _'Oh well, if his nose was broken, I'd get in deeper trouble than I will now.' _She leaned back against the back of the wooden chair she was sitting in, not looking forward to getting a scolding by this headmaster.

"Oh? Ada – I mean, Miss Prefect, what seems to be the problem?" a guy's voice called out. Alice's ears pricked up at the voice. It was familiar.

She shot her head up, and sure enough, it was someone she knew all too well. Standing up from her seat, she pointed a shaking finger at the person standing in front of her.

"U-Un-Un-Uncle Os-Oss-Oscar?" the brunette exclaimed loudly, her eyes and mouth widened in shock.

The big man seemed surprised and with a glances at the girl who was gaping at him, a big smile curved onto his mouth. "Ah! Alice!" he said, stepping closer to her and engulfing the petite brunette in his arms.

Alice was about to hug him back happily, but stopped midway when she felt his arms tighten around her. She felt the air burst out of her, her ribs practically breaking under the older man's bear hug. "Un – cle – Oscar... Let go... I can't brea – the...!" she gasped out, her face turning ghost white.

Uncle Oscar stopped his squeezing and let go of her, realizing what he was doing. "Oh! Sorry about that, Alice! Didn't notice that I was crushing you!"

Alice sucked in a big breath of air before giving the man a glare. "You better next time..." she grumbled out under her breath.

"So, Miss Prefect... What's the problem this fine morning?" Uncle Oscar asked the blonde girl.

Miss Prefect explained what she saw to the elder man, before he asked Alice and the boy with the still-bleeding nose.

The brunette frowned. "I was just happening to be searching for my class, when this boy here suddenly yelled at me after I bumped into him. I don't know what was his problem, but he insulted me, so I guess I got a tantrum at that," Alice said, shrugging.

The boy scoffed. "Yeah right. You little brain-less brats don't know any manners when it comes to apologizing. The reason why I yelled at you was because you needed a little lesson."

"I think that should be the other way around," Alice muttered quietly.

Uncle Oscar gave out a sigh. "Not this again... YOU," he said to the boy, "I've seen you around the academy, bullying other students younger than you. Haven't I given you a warning on what would happen if you kept that up?"

The boy gave out an exaggerated sigh and waved his hand carelessly. "Yeah, whatever."

_'What a jerk...'_ Alice thought, glaring at the boy.

The elder man did a face-palm before turning to the blonde girl with emerald eyes."Anyway, Miss Prefect, do you mind guiding Miss Alice here to her classroom? It's almost time for class to start," Uncle Oscar said.

Miss Prefect seemed surprised at the request but shook her head. "Uhm, not at all! Well, excuse us," she said as she motioned for Alice to follow her as she exited the office. The brunette followed suit, glad to get away from that boy. "Bye, Uncle – I mean, Headmaster," Alice said, waving.

Once the two girls were back in the hallways, the blonde girl spoke up. "By the way, my name is Ada Vessalius. Nice to meet you," she said, holding out her hand.

"Oh, nice to meet you too, Ada. Name's Alice Baskerville," the brunette replied, grabbing Ada's hand. Then she froze. "Wait...Vessalius...? Are...Are you related to Uncle Oscar?"

Ada nodded and smiled. "Yes! I'm his niece!" she chirped.

"Ehhh? I didn't know that he had a niece!" Alice exclaimed, surprised at the new information.

The blonde giggled at the brunette. "So Alice, whose class do you have first? I have Mr. Vessalius, English."

The brown-haired girl pulled out her schedule from her bag. "Um...let me see. Oh! I have English with Mr. Vessalius too!"

"That's great! Well, we should get going. Don't wanna be late on the first day, would you?" And with a smile, they continued to walk towards their classroom.

**-x-x-x-x-**

So here they were, sitting in the classroom as Mr. Vessalius rambled on and on about this and that. After wasting so much time with his talking, he asked with a bright smile, "So...any questions, lovely ladies and dear gentlemen...?"

The guys shivered at the 'dear' part. The girls, however, swooned.

Alice was gaping at the teacher, speechless for the last hour. All that went through her head was, _'OMG... OMG... OMG...!'_

Well, can you guess who's the guy standing in front of the classroom at the moment?

A girl raised her hand up high in the air before asking, "Mr. Vessalius! Are you single?"

The boys rolled their eyes and groaned as they face-palmed. The girls seemed to be awaiting his response with all-ears open, stars in their love-struck eyes.

Mr. Vessalius smiled. "Please, call me..." Alice almost gagged at that when the wrong thought came to her mind. He walked over to the girl who had asked the question and leaned down until his face was close to the girl. "...Jack," he finished, slipping a red rose that somehow appeared from his hand. With that, he walked away.

The girls then burst out in fangirl-mode. "KYAAAA!" they screamed.

The boys in the classroom yelled out, "Ah, MY EARS!" as they covered their ears with their hands to block out the high-pitched screams.

So in other words... _'Jack Vessalius is my teacher...?'_ Alice screamed in her mind, completely not believing it.

Jack chuckled and clapped his hands loudly in order for them to quiet down. "Students! Students!" he said. "I forgot to mention this earlier..."

"I am **NOT **your teacher."

The room went quiet.

"...What?" a random girl suddenly burst out, after a really long quiet minute.

Jack laughed at their reactions but quickly caught himself. "Yes, I am deeply sorry for not mentioning this earlier. I am not the teacher for this classroom, but I am the History teacher." The girls cheered loudly before quickly quieting.

"So where is the real English teacher, Jack-sensei?" a random voice asked.

Jack suddenly scratched the back of his head as a troubled expression appeared on his face. "Well, he's running pretty late this morning, but he'll be here by lunch-time."

"EH? That late?" the class exclaimed.

The man in front of the classroom laughed nervously. "Yeah..."

Just then the bell rang, signaling the end of class. "Now, on with your next class!" Jack said, waving to them good-bye.

Alice stood up quickly and grabbed her bag before walking towards the man. "Jack!" she shouted.

"Hm?" When Jack saw Alice, a big grin appeared on his face. "Alice...? Is that you, Alice?"

Alice smiled and glomped him in a hug. "It's been so long, Jack!" she exclaimed happily as Jack chuckled and returned her hug. Ada, who noticed the scene in front of the classroom, smiled as she walked over to them.

The two broke away from the hug and Alice felt a wave of happiness rush through her. _'After so many years...! I guess nothing has changed much, huh...?'_

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

After Ada practically dragging Alice away from Jack, they made their way into their next class, Math. On the way, Ada would occasionally point out some things, like where the restrooms were, where the lunch room was (Alice brightened up at that), and what buildings were what.

"There are the stairs that leads up to the roof-top. My friends and I sometimes eat up there," Ada said, pointing in the direction of a staircase that presumably led up to the roof-top. "Oh! I know! Why don't you come and eat with us upstairs, Alice?"

"Eat with you and your friends on the roof-top?" Alice repeated before a smile graced on her features. "Sure!"

"I'm sure everybody will like you! When it's time for lunch, go up on the roof-top, okay? Ah, here we are!"

Ada entered the room that was labeled _'Math'_ and Alice followed close by, wondering what teacher she'd have this time. Her eyes looked around for an adult and she spotted one in the front of the class.

He had piercing golden eyes and wavy black hair that went halfway down his neck, although it was tied into a small ponytail. All he was wearing was a white, long-sleeved button-up shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and some black slacks.

Ada smiled at the sight of him before walking over to a random seat by the windows. Alice followed and sat in the seat next to her.

Once everyone was seated, the black-haired man spoke. "Good morning, class. Some of you may know me, some of you may not, but my name is Gilbert Nightray. I prefer you students calling me Mr. Nightray, understand?"

A chorus of 'Yes, sirs' came from the students. Alice could see the girls around her had hearts in their eyes, their hands clasped together in front of their faces and a big, dreamy smile on their faces.

_'I wonder if the female students are just here to stare at the teachers here instead of learning...'_ Alice thought, sweat-dropping.

A random hand rose and before Gilbert could call on her, she asked, "Mr. Nightray, are you sin–"

"And **please do not ask questions that do NOT concern Math**," Gilbert quickly cut her off, an angry tick mark appearing on his forehead.

Alice stifled a laugh, but sadly, she didn't do a good job of holding it in and suddenly burst out laughing, catching the attention of the class and the teacher. Soon after, a few of the guys started laughing too.

Gilbert frowned at the laughing brunette. "Silence, class!" he ordered, effectively cutting off the boys' laughter, before walking over to Alice's seat. Alice stopped her giggling and looked up at him, only to see fierce golden eyes piercing into her.

"**YOU.** What is your name, young girl?" Gilbert practically hissed, obviously not pleased.

"A-Alice... Alice Baskerville..." Alice replied, affected by his intense stare that was practically staring into her soul.

"Well, then, Miss Baskervi–" Gilbert suddenly cut off his own sentence as his eyes widened in realization. "Ba-Baskerville...?" he exclaimed.

Alice was suddenly amused at his reaction to her family name. "Yes...what about it?" she asked.

"You're that one girl that Oz always wasted his time visiting...!" Gil exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger in Alice's face.

_'OZ?'_ Alice sprang up from her seat. "Oz? You know Oz?" she asked, feeling a warmth rush through her.

_'...Wait, WASTED HIS TIME VISITING? GEEZ, SO RUDE!'_ The brunette's eyes narrowed. "And what do you mean, 'wasted his time?'"

"Yes, why else would I say his name, dumb child? And by that, I meant that he had to give up his time on studying just to visit _you,_" Gilbert said, his face showing displeasure.

Alice scoffed. "Are you accusing me of something? Cause it sounds like it, you—you—_SEAWEED HEAD_!" _'Ah! That brings back memories!'_

Gilbert's jaw dropped in shock at the name she called him. His mouth opened...and then closed...and then opened...and then closed again, trying to speak, but the words weren't coming to him... Well, it did. "Sea—SEAWEED HEAD? HOW DARE YOU... BAKA USAGI!" he roared in anger.

"_'BAKA USAGI?'_ WHO ARE YOU CALLING A DUMB RABBIT? And where did you get RABBIT from, SEAWEED HEAD?" Alice yelled, glaring daggers at the teacher in front of her as she placed her hands on her hips.

Ada quickly stood up from her seat and tried to break up the fight, but Gilbert and Alice were too busy screaming their heads off at each other, so she wasn't able to. "Geez, why did this have to happen...?" Ada thought to herself, sweat-dropping.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

"THAT BAS– I mean, JERK!" Alice seethed angrily, catching herself from saying a bad word. She stomped her way up the staircase that led to the roof-top, since it was now lunch-time.

The door to the rooftop opened very slowly, as if to not make loud noises and disturb the silence.

Alice poked her head out and her eyes quickly scanned the perimeter, just to make sure that no one was up there. _'No signs of anybody here...save for some pigeons...'_ she thought as she gave out a sigh in relief. _'Why am I acting like a spy or something anyway?'_ Shaking her head at herself, she walked out onto the rooftop.

"Geez, that Ada! Saying that she had to go right after that Seaweed Head's class, about Prefect work or something..." Alice muttered to herself as she clutched her bento full of meat in her hand.

Glancing around, she saw an area was shaded by a huge tree and walked over to it, not wanting to eat in the hot sun. As she walked around the staircase area, she smiled when it was indeed clean and shaded by the tree.

Just when she thought that it was the perfect place to eat and was all clear of anybody, she saw something bright out of the corner of her eye. "Huh?" She turned to see what it was, and saw that it was someone.

He was wearing a white blouse with the collar slightly up, and gray vest that had gold linings on it. He also donned a red tie that was loosely around his neck, green knee-length pants, and boots that reached the top of his calves. And in his hands was a...mango?

_'...That spiky blonde hair...and that weird block of hair that spikes to the right...'_ Alice thought, a warm and familiar feeling rising in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes glanced up and down at him for something else and she saw it.

"...The pocket watch..." Alice breathlessly said.

The blonde-haired guy must have heard Alice, because he lifted his head and averted his emerald eyes to meet her purple ones.

A long minute passed, each of them not saying a word.

That was, until the blonde-haired guy broke the silence. "...A-Alice...? Is that...you?"

_'...He remembers! He remembered me! It...It really is him!'_ Alice felt the warm tears well up in her eyes and a sweet smile graced her features. "...Oz..." she whispered. "OZ..!" she shouted, running up to him.

"Alice!" Oz said, his mouth turning into a grin. "Whoa—Oomph!"

Alice flung herself on him, happy tears streaming down her face. "Ozu, Oz, it... It's you! I thought that you had forgotten all about me...!" she cried, her hands clutching the back of his vest as she hugged him tightly.

Oz smiled and hugged her back, his hands patting the crying brunette's back as he buried his face in her brown locks. _'Heh...Lavender...Same old Alice...'_

"Looks like destiny did bring us back together again...Alice..."

* * *

Thank you dear readers for reading and reviewing! :D Uhm, I think some parts were a bit scratchy, since I haven't been writing in a while... If you knew how old I was and doing all this, would you guys still accept it...? But I won't say it out now...because then I'd be probably breaking some rules here and there...haha... Anyway, thanks for reading, and review! :3 They really help boost my motivation up!

Oh, and since I REALLY LOVE drawing anime/manga and is decent in it, if you readers want, I could maybe draw a little scene here and there in this fanfiction? :D I dunno, I thought that it would be a good idea!

REVIEW! And tell me if you think I should draw fanart for this fanfiction, hehe! I really will do it if you guys want! :D But I'm not a pro (check out my DA profile to see how good/bad I draw, link in my profile description!), so I dunno if you guys will like it, haha. Gee, so much talking here... Thanks again for reading and reviewing! More Oz/Alice and new characters coming up! :D


	4. Start of a StudentTeacher Relationship

**A/N: **Oops, has two months passed since my last update? "OTL Time passes so quickly! Oh yes! I will be changing my pen name from xForeverXAlonex to Neyuchi, just letting you guys know, since I don't like xForeverXAlonex anymore (And then when I realized what the picture of Forever Alone looked like, I was like, ' o A o …Oh lord.') Wondering why I wanna change it to Neyuchi? Well, some weeks ago, I was trying to figure out a new user name that had my name in it. So I took my first name (Uyen) and put it backwards, making Neyu. Then I added chi in it, and voila~! Awesome right? (Not really... 3 )

Eh, enough chit-chatting from me, hehe. Enjoy~! Oh yes, make sure to read the ending Author's Note for a little gift from me to you guys (and the fanfiction)! It's a link that leads to it though.

ENJOY~! = u = (Lolz, at the lame chapter name for this one!)

* * *

**True My Heart**

**Chapter 4: The Start of a Teacher/Student Relationship**

**April 5th: First Day of School (AFTERNOON)**

Ada walked down one of the many hallways, a stack of paperwork concerning the school of and such in her arms. "Geez, that Gilbert, always forgetting to send in his papers before the dead-line," the blonde girl muttered to herself.

"EEK! Watch out!" a girl's voice yelled.

"Huh? Wh—EEK!" Ada shrieked when she felt someone suddenly collide into her and she lost balance before falling to the ground. Papers were everywhere, falling down to the ground gracefully and quickly.

The blonde then felt someone on top of her back, and she winced in pain when she felt a stinging pain in her legs. _'Ouch...did I hit it too hard?'_

Ada twisted her body around to face the person who crashed into her. "You shouldn't—Eh? Sh-Sharon-chan?" she exclaimed, seeing the brown-haired girl on her back.

Sharon Rainsworth lifted her head to apologize, but when she saw who it was that she had crashed into and said her name, she gasped upon seeing Ada. "Ada-chan?" Sharon remembered that she was still on top of the blonde girl and quickly got up, apologizing.

Ada stood up then, waving off the unending sentences of apologies that were coming out of Sharon. "It's okay, I'm fine, Sharon!" she said, causing the brunette to stop. "But...were you running in the hallways?"

The brunette quickly shook her head and waved her hands quickly in front of her. "No, no!" she replied, before looking at her feet. "I...uhm...tripped over my own feet..."

Ada just stared at her brunette friend. "Really...?" _'I thought that Sharon came from a noble family... And her mother had given her many lessons on being a lady. Shouldn't she be like...composed and graceful like a proper woman?'_ Ada thought, sweat-dropping.

"Y-Yes.." the brunette said, flushing in embarrassment.

"A-Ada-chan!"

The two girls turned around, forgetting their conversation (and also saving Sharon from humiliation). Gilbert was walking quickly towards them, sweat breaking out on his face.

"Gilbert-sensei?" Ada and Sharon said in unison, surprised to see Gilbert and to see him sweating. I mean, he doesn't look like the weak type...right?

"A-Ada... I almost forgot about this paper for you to bring to the office for me..." Gil panted, handing her another sheet of paper of some business on it.

"O-Oh, I see," Ada said, taking the paper.

"What's wrong, Gilbert-sensei?" Sharon asked, noting how he was sweating pounds of water. "You're sweating a lot..."

Gilbert's face turned into a grimace. "I had to run away from all the fan-girls... THEY WERE ALL OVER THE SCHOOL."

"_**GILBERT-SAMA~!**_" a group of high-pitched screams came from down the hallway, causing Gilbert to freeze and sweat _more_.

"Cr-CRAP! Gotta go, Ada, Sharon! See you around!" the raven-haired man practically shrieked towards them before taking off quickly.

"_KYAAAAAA~! THERE HE IS! __**GILBERT-SAMA~! **__WAIT FOR US!"_ the fan-girls screamed as they stampeded down the hallway, and towards Ada and Sharon, who were standing in the middle of the hallway, bright as day.

"Wh-What now?" Sharon asked as she watched hordes of crazy girls fill up the hallway.

"'What now?' DON'T ASK THAT! RUN FOR IT, SHARON!" Ada shouted, shoving the stack of paperwork she held into her school bag, before she grabbed Sharon's hand and pulled her after her as she took off. Sharon didn't expect the sudden yank and almost tripped over her own feet again.

Now the two were running as fast as they could away from the fan-girls in the hallways. _'And breaking many rules,'_ Ada thought with a grimace.

"A..Ada-ch—chan!" Sharon said loudly, snapping Ada from her thinking. "I can't... I can't go on—any further-EEK!"

"Hang on, Sharon—WHOA!" Ada almost shrieked when she felt Sharon yank her sideways, almost causing her to fall on her bottom. ...Well, she did. "OW!" she winced when she felt her back and bottom collide with something solid. Sharon, however, landed on something soft.

"Shh~!"

Sharon and Ada felt someone's hand clamp on their mouths, and they almost screamed. _'Is this a kidnap?'_ they frantically thought, their eyes widening as they scanned their surroundings. Except that they couldn't.

They both were in a pitch black room, which was very cramped, by the way. The only source of light came from the crack under the door, but it didn't help them see their surroundings very well.

The two girls tried their very best to not move or talk, as they listened to the loud stomps of the crazy fan-girls pass right by them until it was faint in a matter of seconds. When they couldn't hear any crazy girl outside, they felt the hands that were clamped onto their mouths loosened up and fall away.

Soon enough, the sound of a light-bulb being pulled was heard and the bulb came to life, lighting the room. Ada and Sharon saw that they were in a Janitor's Closet. No wonder it felt so cramped in there.

"Well, well~ Looks like I've saved you in the nick of time!"

Ada and Sharon turned their heads to the speaker, and Sharon could feel her face heat up when she saw who it was.

Xerxes Break was standing there with a big smirk on his face, and his doll, Emily, was perched onto his shoulder. And what else is that he was holding Sharon closely, which was the cause of Sharon's heavy blush on her face.

"Brea—Break!" Sharon stuttered out, surprised to see him. She quickly backed away from him and stood next to Ada.

"Ho ho~ Ojou—AGH!"

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU NOT TO CALL ME BY THAT?" Sharon suddenly yelled, slapping Break upside the head with...a big paper fan. How Sharon kept that with her without anyone seeing it made Ada wonder.

The silver-haired man chuckled, despite the stinging pain on his chin and face. "Then shall I call you Sharon-sama? Or Sharon-chan, instead?" he asked, a teasing smile on his lips.

The brunette with the paper fan blushed and turned away. "Whichever you please... I mean, I'd prefer Sharon-chan... Calling me sama when you're the teacher and I'm the student...it's kinda embarrassing," she muttered.

"As you wish, Sha—ron—chan~!" Break said, carrying out her name happily, which caused Sharon to almost explode from her embarrassment.

Ada watched the two with a smile on her face. _'At least they're getting along well,'_ she thought. Then something crossed her mind. _'Oh shoot!'_ "Break-sensei, Sharon-chan, I need to go bring Gilbert's paperwork to the school office. So... I'll be going now. See you upstairs on the roof?"

The silver-haired teacher and the brunette nodded their heads. "Yes, we'll be up there with everyone," Sharon said with a smile, before shooing the blonde. "Hurry then! The sooner you get it done, the better!"

Ada smiled back and bowed politely to Break-sensei and gave a wave to Sharon before opening the closet's door and quickly leaving.

Sharon and Break got out of the closet also and watched as Ada turned on the corner of the end of the hallway before disappearing from sight.

"Well then~ We should get going too, Sharon-sama," Break said, pointing towards the stairs that led up to the school rooftop. Sharon nodded and walked towards the stairs, the teacher happily following her.

**-x-x-x-x-**

"Ahhh~"

Ada sighed in relief as she left the office, feeling a lot of weight lift off from her school bag and shoulders. "I should head to the roof-top now... Oh yeah... That reminds me! I wonder if Alice is up there already." The blonde started to walk down the hallway to the closest stairway.

**-x-x-x-x-**

Now, back to the girl who loves meat, and the guy who seems to have an obsession with mangoes. Yes, mangoes.

When they let go of each other, they felt at loss at what to say. Both had many questions to ask, but didn't where to start.

So a moment of silence was accompanied by sounds of the light breeze and the machine on the rooftop whirring it's engines in the distance.

Alice's hands nervously fiddled with the other as she observed her childhood from the corner of her eye. _'He looks a lot more...mature...and...__**hotter**__.'_ Alice felt her face heat up and she turned away from him, covering her red face with her hands before shaking her thoughts away from her mind. Face it, Alice, you can't deny that fact!

Sure, Oz looked a bit more adult than his 14-year-old look, his face more toned out and such. His blonde mess of a hair had the same hairstyle as before, with his signature...hair piece that either swerved to the left or right, but it grew a little longer (not really).

"A-"

"Can I ask you something?" Alice cut in, causing the said boy to tilt his head to the side in wonder.

"What is it, Alice?" the blond-haired boy, wait no, adult asked.

"Listen carefully, okay?" Oz nodded and Alice took a deep breath before screaming, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THESE YEARS? DID YOU EVEN REALIZE HOW MUCH I MISSED YOU, YOU JERK? AND NOW YOU'RE JUST GONNA POP OUT OF NOWHERE, AT THIS SCHOOL?" Alice shouted in his face, completely outraged. Hey, aren't you wondering where this boy have been too?

Oz was taken aback from her sudden outburst. "Eh...Uh..." he stuttered, aghast. "I-I'm sure that Mrs. Kate and the others informed you that I was studying abroad a few years ago, correct?"

Alice nodded, crossing her arms and waiting for him to just spew out the reason for his absence already. "Yes?"

"Well, they were right. While I was studying abroad, a year later, I found out that Uncle Oscar needed an English teacher at this academy. At that time, I had already learned the language of English, and offered to take the role. And so here I am!" Oz finished, smiling and holding out his hands to exaggerate 'here.'

The brunette was speechless. "..."

"Um, Alice?"

"Y-You're...an E-En-English teacher at this academy?" Alice finally asked, a look of disbelief plastered on her face.

Oz nodded. "Yes. A third year Junior High English teacher, to be exact."

Alice's eyes widened. _'Th-Third year Junior High? Holy crap, so then that means...!'_ "Y-You're my English teacher then!"

The blonde grinned and nodded. "Bingo, you're correct!"

"...And how do you know?" the brunette asked, raising an eyebrow at his words.

Oz chuckled and sat down, grabbing a mango from his bag. "I have a class roster, you know," he said, biting into his mango. "Since I'm a teacher and all." And then he continued to bite into the juicy and delicious mango.

_'Oh yeah...'_ Alice slapped herself (not literally) when she realized that he was right. She then eyed him eating. "Is that your favorite fruit or something, Oz? Cause you're eating it so...happily..."

"Hm?" The blonde licked his sticky fingers clean from the tip to his palm, catching every little drop on his tongue, all the while keeping his eyes on her and Alice couldn't help but think, _'This looks like one of those...eroge animes...' _Her face reddened at her thought and she shook her head to clear it away.

"Mangoes," Alice specified, pointing to his bag full of mangoes. "That's not really healthy to be eating that all day, you know..." She then averted her eyes away when she asked, "Can you give me one too?"

Oz chuckled, reaching into his bag and grabbing another mango before tossing it to Alice. "Here." When she caught it, he then pulled out a napkin and wiped his mouth and hands with it before taking out his bento.

Alice huffed at him. "Shouldn't you have eaten that earlier—Ooh! MEAT!" Her eyes turned into stars as she drooled at the sight of Oz's bento, which was full of meat and vegetables.

Oz smiled at the girl. _'Guess her obsession with meat is still there, eh? Heh heh, cute... Ah! I know!'_ A big smile was on his face as he pulled out his chopsticks from it's place and picked up some meat between the thin wooden sticks. He brought his other free hand under the food so that if it fell, it'd be on his hand and not on the dirty floor.

"What are you-"

"Say 'ahh~!' Alice!" Oz said, smiling that big smile where he closes his eyes.

Alice could feel her face burn up quickly from cheeks to ear at that. "Wh-What?" she said dumbly, staring at his smiling face and then at the meat held between the chopsticks.

"Come on, Alice! You should be lucky that I'm serving you myself!" Oz said, frowning. "Although it should be the other way around..." he quietly muttered, secretly wishing in his head that the brunette in front of him would feed him. The hands with the chopsticks lowered.

Alice, however, caught that last sentence and huffed, turning away. "In your dreams, blondie," she said. "But...fine, I'll say it."

Oz grinned.

Alice blushed and her fingers twitched to strangle the blonde-haired boy in front of her. "U-Uhm... Ahhhn~?" she said in an unsure tone, opening her mouth.

At that, Oz lifted his hands and brought them closer to Alice's mouth, and she leaned a little forward before biting the meat off of the chopsticks. One chew later, Alice was practically beaming stars as she shouted, "It's so good, Ozu! Can I have some more?"

The boy smirked. "As long as you feed me too~!" he chimed.

Alice immediately cringed, her face turning into a deep frown. _'Agh, come on, Alice! You don't feed him, no meat for you! DO IT, FOR THE MEAT. NAO.'_ It almost took her very being to muster up the courage to snatch those chopsticks and shove them up his-! _Just kidding~!_ "Fi-Fine!" she gritted out, taking her own chopsticks out from her own bento box. "Sa-Say 'Ah-Ahhh...'...?" Alice held up her chopsticks of some of the food she had in her bento.

Little did they know, a prefect, a girl with her infamous fan, a clown, and a certain raven twitching visibly, was hiding behind a wall and peeking at the two feeding each other.

The raven however, stepped forward, growling angrily. "I CAN'T WATCH THIS ANYMORE!" he grounded out, eyes flaming like a fire.

The clown held the raven back though, preventing him from getting closer to the two. "Ho~ Ho~? Getting jealous, Gilbert-kun~?" he asked, a big smile creeping onto his face.

"LIKE HELL I AM, YOU STUPID CLOWN!" Gilbert, the raven, shouted back, causing the prefect and the girl with the paper fan to giggle and shake their heads. "LET ME GO, BREAK! HOW CAN I LET THIS DUMB CHILD AND OZ BE TOGETHER AGAIN? LEMME GO!"

"G-Gilbert-sensei... Calm down!" Ada said, helping Break keep Gilbert down.

Sharon squealed. "Ara~! This might be the start of a teacher and student relationship, you three~!"

Ada sweat-dropped. "You're starting to freak me out, Sharon, with these stories of fantasies you've been telling me... And Gilbert! Keep it down!"

"What are you four doing?"

The four froze into statues and turned their heads towards the voice, a big sweat-drop on each of their heads. "...Eh..."

Alice and Oz were standing there, Alice tilting her head to the side in confusion, and Oz crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at them.

"Uh-oh~ We've been caught!"

"...Shut it, Break..."

**-x-x-x-x-x-x**

In the end, the group of six people ate together, happily chatting and eating. Occasionally, Break would have to hold Gil back every time Alice would talk to Oz, Sharon whacking Break in the head with her paper fan every time he made a perverse remark, and Ada just sweat-dropping at her friends.

"What class do you have next, Alice, Sharon?" Ada asked as the group gathered their belongings before the bell rang, signaling that lunch time was over.

The two said girls pulled out their schedules and glanced at the correct time and what class they had.

"... Uhhh...? Nightray-sensei in Home Economics?" Alice said, almost like a question.

Sharon gasped in surprise. "Ara, really? I have Home Economics with you also~!"

"Same here~!" Ada chimed, smiling.

"... Oh gawd," Gilbert said, face-palming. Apparently, he knew that something was up.

And so, the three girls said their 'byes' and 'see you laters' before leaving the rooftop, leaving the three teachers behind.

"Where were you this morning?" Gilbert asked Oz, now that the students were gone.

Oz's face tinted red a little as he scratched his cheek bashfully with one finger. "Ehh... To be honest, I kinda slept in..."

Gilbert and Break chuckled and stared at Oz in amusement. "Geez, you're just like a student who wakes up three hours after school starts.

The blonde flushed in embarrassment and he turned away, huffing. "Shut up, Gilbert."

"What a meanie, Oz!"

At that, the three laughed together joyfully before heading downstairs to their classes.

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

"What the _fudge sickles_ is he doing...?"

Gee, nice use of language, Arisu.

Alice watched as her Home Economics teacher showed the students how to cut up vegetables with...SCISSORS?

A random student's hand rose in the air, causing the Home Economics teacher to stop his uh...cutting (or is it chopping?), and look at the girl who raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Uhm, Vincent-sensei, aren't you supposed to cut vegetables with **knives** instead of **scissors**?" the random girl asked. Everyone nodded, completely confused.

"Oh! Silly me!" Vincent said, touching his cheek and gasping a_ bit too_ dramatically. "But..." A creepy dark aura then formed around him as a creepy smile etched onto his face as he said, "I CUT WITH SCISSORS. IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?"

Everyone in the room cowered in fear. "N-No..."

Alice had to admit that so far, her first day of school was indeed weird.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

* * *

**A/N:**MUAHAHAHA! Cliffhanger! But I wanted to update before I started school though... YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL I UPDATED! xD Ah! Before you guys exit out of this page or whatever, I would like to do this thanking thingy.

First up. The Favorites! Thank you:

**IzzyC60**

**The Blue Mask-cara**

**daciela**

**MewMewApple101**

**AmAnOtaku11**

**NyaltsNani**

**Alla-17**

**Infatuation-x**

**scottaa**

**Amechi**

for favoriting this fanfic! Wao, so much! :D

Alerters~! Thank you:

**The Blue Mask-cara**

**Ai Usagi**

**AmAnOtaku11**

**NyaltsNani**

**JustPikachu**

**jacques05**

**Infatuation-x**

**FlightFire32**

**scottaa**

**BlackBunny214**

for alerting this story~! -hugs you all-

And last but not least, LOVELY REVIEWERS!:

**Ai Usagi**

**Whemply**

**JustPikachu**

**TeamNeko**

**scottaa**

**BlackRabbitAlice435**

and** many Anonymous readers **-shot-

for reviewing! Aah~ I feel so happy! Uh, did I forget anyone or misspell anyone's pen names? If so, gomen! Anyway, thank you guys soooo much! ; u ;

And here's your little gift, that I spent much time (Just kidding, like two days, orz) drawing for you guys~!

Link to drawing: http:/ / neyuchi . deviantart .com/#/d413y70

Link to drawing process for you YouTubers that like to watch speed-paints: http:/ / www . youtube .com/watch?v=w3PvqcvwBZ0&feature=channel_video_title

Just take out the spaces. Or if you're having trouble with the stupid links, just go to my profile and click on YouTube or DeviantArt and find the picture or vid that says True My Heart and so on... Add me as a friend (as long as you post a comment somewhere so I know who you are), subscribe, watch, bleh, whatever! I'll send you many huggies and kissies! Just kidding. xDD

Squee~! The things I do...at such a freaking young age. orz

I was wondering. Since I rated this T, it's fine if I add bad words to this fanfic, right? XDDD Unless you guys don't want it to be full of foul words, tell me in your reviews so I'll know.

Oh yes, I start school on **August 10th**, so it might be a while until I update again. _Stupid school and your unlimited amount of school work..._

Until next time~! (Hopefully not another two months later... A ;;) Thank you all so much again! -glomps-

_(Crap, I talk too much, "OTL)_ LOLZ.


	5. Wonderful Mornings & Fangirls' Rampage

Uhm, hello again, everyone~! ... *cowers and hides* You guys can go ahead and kill me, I deserve it. Q/A/Q I'm terribly sorry! In the end, my lazy self kept on procrastinating... OTL. But when I was determined to write this out and finish it in maybe a day, I found out that I could finish chapters faster if I wasn't such a lazy bum. From now on, I'll TRY MY HARDEST TO GET MORE CHAPTERS OUT. YOU HAVE MY WORD. But I'm probably just drawing and failing at life. So yeah...

Uhm. Well, for those who are still supporting me and my fanfiction, I seriously love you all! I'm so pleased to see that you guys are still supporting this fanfic, although it's been over 3 months. THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU GUYS!

Now, onto the fifth chapter! I made it over 6,000 words to make up for the time I wasted. BE HAPPY.

Enjoy~! ^ 7 ^)/

* * *

**True My Heart**

**Chapter 5: Wonderful Mornings & Fangirls' First Rampage**

**Calender: April 6th : Second Day of School**

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

"...-sama... -jou-sama... Ojou-sama~!"

Sharon moaned out sleepily as she turned onto her side, sheets tangling between her legs and dangling on the side of her grand bed. "Nnnnghnnn..."

A light chuckle danced in her hears, bringing her consciousness to wake. "You know, Ojou-sama... A proper lady shouldn't lay on her bed like that and moan as if she's trying to _seduce_ someone."

"Wh-WHAT?" Sharon's head whipped up from her soft pillow, her caramel-colored hair bouncing up once, her stray hair sticking up all around her head. Trying to see if Break was right, she kept her body still as her eyes immediately looked at her form, and sure enough, he was right.

The silk pajama-dress she was wearing was a button-up one, that had long-sleeves and reached down to her mid-calves. Like all fancy clothes, this one was indeed ruffly and frilly. But in this predicament, many buttons were open from the neck to the top of her chest, and the dress was hiked up high, showing her thighs.

Sharon could have sworn that her face had turned into a rainbow of the color red and pink, and her eyes were widened in shock and embarrassment, her mouth open, and her hair a complete disarray.

_Click!_

_'OH. NO. HE. DIDN'T.'_ The "supposedly" proper lady's pink-ish eyes glanced over to the only pervert and person in the room, and just to confirm her fears, a camera was in his hands, a big smirk on his face.

Oh, he was going to get it.

"**BUUUUUUUREIKUUUUUUUUUUUUU!**"

"Ooh~! Ojou-sama, I can see your—UGHACK!"

Cue the constant noise of paper-fan slapping someone's face repeatedly, the noise of a girl embarrassed screaming, and the noise of a guy's laughter, only to be cut off with a slap of a certain paper-fan.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

A grumble came from the open porch of a certain raven-haired guy's house as his foot tapped the wooden flooring repeatedly, a frown etching onto his face. He gripped his coffee mug tightly as the clock ticked by, second by second. Hopefully, the coffee would help his addiction of killing his lungs—I mean, smoking cigarettes.

This was his _ninth_ time to try and quit smoking (although it was because Uncle Oscar threatened to put him in a mental home if he didn't stop, also with the consent of Oz). Would it be successful? You probably know the answer already though.

"..."

_Tap, tap, tap. Sip, sip._

"..."

_Tap, gulp, tap, gulp, tap._

"..."

_Tap, gulp, gulp, tap, gulp, gulp, ta—SLAM!_

"AGGGGGGGH...! Screw this!" Gilbert screamed out suddenly, slamming his cup of coffee on the little table out on the porch, not realizing how the neighbors were staring at him strangely (heck, the children were scared or thinking of him as a crazy hooligan). "Ozu-sama, Oscar-sama... I am sorry, but... I CAN'T DO THIS AFTER ALL..!" he cried out, tears comically streaming down his face.

He stomped into his house, his hand twitching for that certain small box stashed in the counter, his urge of smoking cigarettes taking over his senses. As he searched high and low for that box he stashed somewhere in that counter, he banged his head several times in the hasty process, causing him to curse out loudly.

"Where the frick did I put that box?"

"_**GiiiiRuuuUBertoooooOOO...**_"

Not even noticing the creepy tone and voice that was used, Gilbert's features turned into a deep scowl of irritation as he turned towards the speaker. "What the crap do you want— HOLY SHI—!"

And the sound of a male's very girlish screaming pierced through the calm air.

**-x-x-x-x-**

Sharon let out a meek squeal of surprise when she heard a particular scream out in the distance. "Br-Break..? Did you hear that just now?" she asked, her eyes flickering over to the elder man.

All she received was a wide, mischievous smile that spread across his face, his one eye closing in glee. "Not at all, Sharon-sama. I didn't hear a thing~"

Turning her direction back to her mirror, she continued to brush her caramel-colored hair, but when she couldn't reach a spot, she asked the man to help. The lady sighed as she gazed at her reflection in the mirror and gave him a peculiar look through the mirror. _'Break, you lying whore.' _

He obliged to help, but at one point, the brush yanked painfully on her hair, causing Sharon to wince in pain. "Haha~ Sharon-sama, I heard that, you know~" he chimed in a oh, so sweet, tone of voice.

When her eyes made contact with the his crimson one, she immediately gave him a hard glare. _'You horrible bastard of a servant..!'  
_

With another "cheerful" grin, the brush yanked on her hair once again. More painfully than before, that is to say.

**-x-x-x-x-**

The alarm's blare sliced through a particular brunette's dreams and head, instantly yanking her back to reality and making her jump from bed, literally. It resulted her in falling comically from her bed and kiss the floor...well, not really. Her nose and forehead made contact with the wooden floor, quite painfully, and the once was peaceful air was disturbed by a rather loud curse from the girl.

Groaning in pain, she sat up, her hand rubbing the pained spots on her face. What a day to start the second day of school. _'Remind me to not dream of rabbits eating carrots so adorably again. I swear, their cuteness can give me diabetes.'_

Sheets were scattered round and about around her, and it was obvious that she had taken the blankets down with her on her fall. Seeing the fallen sheets, she did a face-palm when she remembered that she had yet to sweep and mop the floors. (It's been about 5 months since her last cleaning of the floors, but she wouldn't tell anyone that.)

"Great, just great," Alice grumbled, a frown on her features as she stood up on her feet and gathered the sheets from the floor into a pile in her arms. She then tossed it blindly all together right next to the pile she presumed where her dirty laundry was at, which contained too little for a female that should have worn in a week.

Alice never really was one to have a huge wardrobe full of clothing that she knew would be stashed in there for who knows how long without being worn once. Besides, the amount of money she currently had in her wallet was starting to run low, but not like 'OMG, I HAVE ONE CENT LEFT, OMG, SPAZZ, I NEED TO GO ROB A BANK OR SOMETHING BEFORE I DIE.' Nah.

_'So much crap to worry about and do nowadays,'_ Alice grumpily thought as she entered her bathroom and started to brush her teeth and do her necessities that I'm sure she doesn't want anyone to know about, not that you'd really want to know anyway.

Stepping out of the bathroom a few minutes later, her eyes observed her decently-sized apartment. _'But then again...it's better than living in that hell-hole of a home over there.'_

As she walked over to her closet that contained a decent amount of seasonal clothes and her undergarments, she grabbed her school clothes and whatnot that were hung on clothing hangars and took them out before tossing them onto her bare bed. Absently glancing at the bunny-shaped clock sitting on her drawer, she saw that she had some time before school started.

Quickly shedding her pajamas off, she slipped on her school uniform, before proceeding towards the mirror that hung on her wall, and the drawer right against it. Tightening her school bow tie, she picked out thin, black hairbands and grabbed her hairbrush, beginning to brush out her long, brown hair. Muttering uncomprehending words as she fought out the many tangles in her hair, it took almost five minutes just to brush it out all nice and tangle-free. Before, she had pondered about cutting her hair short once, but she really couldn't imagine her with short hair, and she'd feel so awkward with that length of hair. Braiding the side pieces of her locks into plaits and securing them with a hairband, she stood up and observed her attire.

"Oh, almost forgot!" She reached into her little jewelry box (which she stole from somewhere, but she forgot where), and pulled out the musical locket from it before hooking it around her neck. Now she was done.

With a satisfactory nod, she beamed a bright and kind smile, showing off her innocent, moe-moe, kawaii looks~! …..Only to replace it with an ugly scowl. She grimaced. "Oh gawd, I didn't know I could look that ugly."

Sighing and snatching her keys and bag from their places, she headed for her front door, slipping her feet into them before opening her door and locking the door right after.

Now for her new daily routine she planned out for herself months earlier so that she wouldn't be such a lazy ass during school days.

First off: It was a morning walk, stroll, jog, adventure time, doing-this-because-I'm-bored-to-death-so-early-in-the-morning-and-to-make-myself-wake-up-or-I'll-get-run-over-by-a-stupid-car-and-not-notice, oh, whatever you call it.

Just when she was going to take a step down the stairs to the street, a growling noise came from her stomach. _'Ah, crap, I almost forgot.'_ She needed to find something to eat to fulfill her stomach that was currently making such embarrassing noises.

You know how her money stash was running low? Yes, because of that, she decided to skip dinner for a day, thus causing her hunger to increase drastically. But hey, she needed it to pay rent and whatnot.

She leaned her head back, her eyes staring up at the dim sky and the sun that was starting to rise. _'Ahh, man, life sucks. And I seriously need to find a job soon or I'll become a hobo, no offense to the hobos out there, but yeah... Hgnn... I'll have to look around town after school then.'_

_'But first...'_ Her stomach made another growl...that lasted for about five seconds. _'Damn, my stomach hasn't been this empty for this long before, and that growl was long. Really embarrassing. ...I need food. Or I'll just faint and die. Oh wait! I know, I should just come across an extremely rich-looking person and dramatically faint in their path. Maybe that will work!'_ "...Hn." _'Ah, never mind. They could be a pedophile for all I care. And no way in hell am I going to hang with that person any longer.' _

Ignoring her stomach the best she could, she walked on the road towards the school building, but her eyes would stare at something in fascination, while her feet had a mind of its own and go somewhere on its own.

Maybe that was why she ended up on a street she didn't recognize.

"Damn it all. Of all things, I had to get lost."

Oh, and there was a new-looking pack of something on the ground in front of her feet. Out of curiosity, she picked it up, and discovered that it was a cigarette pack. _'Ooh, stash of cancer unopened in my hands. Brand name, also. A ha~! I must be SO lucky~! ...Not.'_

Just when she was about to throw the pack into a dark alley, a scream pierced through the air, scaring the crap out of Alice.

"Wha-What the hell was that..?" Alice's feet carried her towards the scream, and she had to wonder again at how she got on the front steps of a house, before she caught glance of black on head and a tall person through the open front door. _'Who leaves their front door open, like seriously? If there's a burglar in there, no wonder.'_

But when her lavender eyes went all perfect vision as she was trying to identify the person out of mere nosy-ness, it clicked into her head.

"Ho-Holy crap, Gilbert-sensei?" she uttered out in disbelief.

Said person whipped around, cold sweat pouring down his flustered face, his breath all shaky and uneven, his raven locks in a tangly mess, as his wide golden eyes locked sight with hers. Well, to break it out, he looked like crap, and that it looked as if he just saw a dead corpse in his living room.

"..." Silence consumed the two of them, both of them wondering what was happening or something.

Finally, Gilbert blinked and said, "What the flip are you doing at my house, you stupid rabbit?"

Alice scowled and rolled her eyes. "Oh gee, thanks for the warm welcome, Seaweed-Head. And I could say the same about you. Why are you screaming so early in the morning? And damn, that was one girly scream.

It was Gil's turn to scowl. "Go away, you stupid rabbit. I don't need your constant nagging and remarks. I'm searching for something."

Ignoring the 'go away' part, Alice raised her eyebrows and asked, "Oh? What are you looking for, Gilbert-sensei? Is it something I can possibly help with?"

Without turning his head as he continued his search for his crack stash, he irately said, "The pack of cigarettes I hid somewhere in this house. Now scram and go to school, stupid rabbit."

"Hooooh?" Alice drawled out, ignoring the 'scram' part again, her eyes glancing down at the pack of cigarettes in her hand. "Cigarettes, huh?" Right after she said that, her stomach growled, but luckily, Gilbert seemed to not hear that. "I think I can help."

At that, Gil looked up at her, almost on the verge of snapping. He never did though, since the sharp words on his tongue died down when he saw what she was holding in her hands that were held up. But when he also saw that mischievous smirk on her lips, he knew that she was plotting something. "W-Why do you have cigarettes on you? You do realize that it's against school rules to carry any type of drugs on school campus, let alone a student?" he said instead.

Alice's smirk went wider. "Hey, Gil, if that's so, then I would gladly give you these cigarettes, but before I do that, I want to make a deal."

He rose an eyebrow at her. "And what is that? If it's something naughty, I swear-"

"OI, I'M NOT A FAN-GIRL OF YOURS, YOU STUPID SEAWEED-HEAD," Alice cut him off, irritation written on her face. "It's got nothing to do with eye-raping or dating, and I'll be damned if I was a fan-girl of yours, but be assured; I'm not."

Gilbert then crossed his arms, leaning onto the counter, his eyes narrowed at the girl standing in his doorway, but deep down inside, he was glad that Oz's childhood friend wasn't a creeper. "Then what do you want? Spit it out. If it's something I can do, I'll do it...in exchange for that pack in your hands."

Oh, Gilbert. Must you be so addicted with that little bundle of cancer you seem to like to inhale, only to hack and cough like you have crap stuck in your throat?

Alice brightened at that. "Really? You mean it, Gilbert-sensei?"

He groaned, but nodded his head tiredly. "Yes, I will, so what is it?"

The grin on Alice's face almost reached her eyes.

**-x-x-x-x-**

Ada was up and awake when her alarm went off, her feet already padding into her bathroom as she went to go do her thing. After cleaning up, dressing into her school uniform, and adding bows and such to her long, blonde locks, she was ready to go.

"Dinah! Snowdrop! Kitty! Come on out~!" she called out, and the three kittens immediately pounced up to their beloved owner, meowing and pawing at her feet.

Ada couldn't help but giggle. Leaning down, she petted each of their heads. "I'll feed you right after I'm done waking up Onii-chan. Wait for a minute, okay?"

And with that, she walked off, her mind set on waking up her brother.

"Onii-chan! Time to wake up, you sleepy head!" she chimed as she opened the door to her beloved brother's bedroom, her emerald eyes glancing at that sleeping form on his bed, snoring lightly.

She couldn't help but shake her head in disbelief. He was already an adult, and yet he was like a lazy child who slept through night and day.

Walking towards the lump in the bed, she shook Oz's shoulder, attempting to wake him up. "Wake up! You're going to be late for work again!"

**THREE MINUTES OF FAILING ATTEMPTS TO WAKE THE BLONDE BOY...**

Ada finally snapped. "OH MY GAWD, ONII-CHAN, WAKE YOUR SLEEPY BOTTOM UP AND GET TO WORK!" she screamed in his ear, albeit regretting it after for screaming at her brother.

That was when Oz finally woke up. His body jerked awake, and his head almost collided with Ada's. "Huh? Oh... Hey, Ada..." he mumbled, starting to get out of bed, groaning as he stretched his limbs.

Ada sighed. "Finally." At least she knew that he wasn't going to be late...or maybe he was going to be late again. "Well, Onii-chan, I'll be downstairs making breakfast if you need me," she said as she started to exit her brother's bedroom to give him privacy. "Sheesh, that big brother. Always a deep sleeper," she mumbled to to herself as she entered the kitchen.

"Dinah, Snowdrop, Kitty~!" she called again as she grabbed the cat food from the cabinet and opened it before scraping it out in their respective kitty bowls. "Your breakfast is ready~!" They appeared from upstairs and began to eat. Soon enough, they were licking their paws and mouth clean of food before pouncing over to Ada and purring as they rubbed her leg, showing their appreciation. Ada giggled and smiled. "You're welcome."

With the task of feeding her kittens done, she grabbed four slices of bread before popping it into the toaster, and as she waited for the toast to finish, she took out the jar of jam from its place before setting it on the table next to the toaster. She then pulled out two glass cups before opening the refrigerator and grabbed the carton of orange juice for herself, deciding that she'd wait until Oz was done getting ready so that she could ask him.

By then, the toast popped out of the toaster and Ada quickly attended to it. Humming a soft melody to herself, she grabbed a knife and opened the jar of jam before smearing the purple substance onto the bread. She remembered to add a little extra jam on two slices of toast.

Once she was done, Oz had emerged from upstairs, fumbling with his tie. Ada glanced at her elder brother, and saw that he was wearing a white, long-sleeved dress-shirt, a plain black vest, black slacks, red tie, and a black belt, donned with his golden pocket watch hooked onto one of his belt loops. At least he was wearing proper looking clothes to work, although she was sure that Uncle Oscar wouldn't care if he walked onto school campus in his boxers. Not that he would do it, though.

"Good morning, Onii-chan~!" the blonde sister chimed cheerfully, setting the plates of toast with jam on the dinner table, grabbing her glass of orange juice as she sat in her seat.

"Ah, good morning to you, too, Ada," Oz replied, flashing a smile to her as he walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the gallon of milk and pouring its contents in the other glass cup Ada left out before putting the gallon back in. Walking over to the table, he slid in the seat across from her, picking up his toast covered in jam and took a bite out of it, his face beaming when she remembered to add more jam to his toast. "Thanks for making breakfast again~ It's always wonderful, Ada," he complimented as he took a swig of milk. Absentmindedly, he said, "I'm sure you'd find a good guy who'd be willing to marry you soon enough, Ada."

Ada choked on her orange juice.

"A-Ada?" Oz was about to jump from his seat to pat his sister on her back, but she waved her hand in front of herself in reassurance.

"I-I'm fine, Onii-Onii-chan... I breathed in wrong and choked, that's all," the girl quickly said, covering her mouth with a napkin as she patted herself on her chest to relieve the juice that was currently burning the back of her throat.

Oz's body relieved as he heard that, but he couldn't help but worry. "Alright... If you say so, Ada."

Deep down inside, Ada was blushing madly, and the color was appearing on her face as she continued her breakfast, one side of her mind listening to her brother's conversation, and the other pondering on the embarrassing matter.

But then again...

"Oz, although you say that I might find a good hus-husband when I'm a lot older... I think your future-to-be-wife is also close by, with you being an adult now."

It was Oz's turn to choke on his milk.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

"...I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this."

Alice was practically eating like a starved animal as she ate down Gilbert's food. Gulping down the coffee he prepared for her, she barked back, "Well, you did, and just for a pack of cigarettes, no less, you idiot."

In front of her was a decent amount of meat Gilbert had bought from the grocery store, and a cup of coffee, since the man didn't have anything decent to drink, other than alcohol.

"By the way, Gilbert-sensei, you fail as a teacher. With all this smoking and alcohol, you're really messed up, you know that?"

Gil snapped, a vein throbbing on his fore head. "Shut up, you stupid rabbit," he said immaturely, a deep scowl etched onto his face. A burning cigarette was in his hands, the smoke wafting in the air. But since Alice was yelling at him about second-hand smoking and that he was killing her brain with that, he opted to smoke on his front porch, although the door and window was wide open.

Shrugging, Alice continued to fill her belly up, a part of her being proud of herself to receive free food, with the endless teasing of pretending to give Gil the cigarettes, only to take it back.

_'Flippin' brat.'_

She threw her coffee cup at him through the window.

"WHAT THE FUUU-!"

"You deserved it, Seaweed-Head."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

When Sharon and Break arrived at school, they were surprised to see the others also, two of them bickering at each other, and the other chatting with one another happily.

"Ara, ara, seems like Gilbert-kun and Alice-san are good friends now," Sharon said, pointing towards the bickering pair.

Alice, being the one with sharp hearing, heard Sharon. "Like hell we are, Sharon-chan! He's such an ass," she growled out, only to receive a hard glare from said man. She just huffed and briskly walked towards the school doors.

"Haha, arrogant as ever, Alice-chan~" Oz chuckled as he followed suit after her. The others quickly caught up. "Sooo...how was your morning, guys?"

"Crappy," Alice replied first. "Seaweed-Head's a total prick. Oh, and did you know? He's an alcoholic. He has a pretty huge stash of the stuff in his cabinets. But other than that, I got free food from the jerk."

"Don't you ever come to my house again, stupid rabbit, or else I'll blow your silly brains out."

Alice shot him a mischievous smirk. "Ohhh? Really?" Her smirk went wider, similar to the one earlier in the morning. "If you do that, I'll tell everyone your secret~!"

"YOU DAMN RABBIT!"

"Oya, oya~ Gilberto-kun~ If you don't want Alice-kun to say it, I can~" Break offered cheerfully, his eye closing in glee as he smiled widely.

Gilbert froze. "What..? But-"

"What is it, Break?" Ada asked, her emerald eyes blinking as she tilted her head to the side slightly in curiosity.

"Hoh hoh~! You see, Ada, this morning, I seemingly caught Gilbert breaking his promise and trying to start smo-"

Gilbert freaked out. "BREAK, I'LL SHOVE THAT DOLL OF YOURS DOWN YOUR THROAT IF YOU DON'T SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" he yelled, his expression flustered.

Break raised his eyebrows. "Emily? Oya, you haven't noticed that she was the one who really found out in the first place?"

Silence ensued the two, leaving the others wondering what was happening, or to put it, what they were talking about.

"Th-Then...that was the hideous-looking thing that said my name back there...?" Gil shivered as chills went up his spine when he remembered the voice Emily used.

Sharon noticed at how Break's smile twitched for a second there as he reached down and grabbed his trusty cane from its place, unsheathing it and revealing something that looked similar to a blade.

"Run, Gilbert-kun. _**RUN.**_"

"OH SHI—!"

**-x-x-x-x-**

Alice sighed as she sat in Oz's classroom, her cheek resting in her hand as she doodled a little bunny eating a carrot at the corner of a sheet of paper from her bag, her mind elsewhere as Oz droned on and on about things that didn't seem to be important.

"Since this is the first week of school, we're free to slack off, but once next week rolls in, we'll be beginning on our lessons. Understand?" Oz said as his emerald eyes scanned over his classroom.

"Okay~!" the class chimed.

"Well, since I haven't planned anything for today, you guys are free to converse with one another, but please refrain from getting out of your seats," he said before sitting down in his chair, his eyes then focusing on some paperwork that he had yet to finish before the deadline, which was next week.

The class immediately burst out into chatter, but good for Oz, they weren't as loud as he thought they would be. Some of the girls opted to sit in their seats and eye-rape the blonde teacher, dreamy expressions on their faces. The boys opted to ignore the jealously and talked about video games, girls, guns, sports, whatever they liked to talk about.

Alice finished her doodle, but grimaced when it looked to be uglier than her imagination. Being lazy and not wanting to fix it, she shoved the paper in her bag before letting out a sigh and planting her cheek on her desk, her face facing towards the sky, which was getting brighter and brighter by the second.

"Hey, hey, girls, I know what we should do when we pick out what clubs we should join!" a bubbly voice said.

"And what is that?" a timid voice asked.

"Ah! I know!" a hyper-active voice exclaimed. "FAN-CLUBS!"

Oz broke out into cold sweat as the pen that was gripped in his hand made a stray mark on the paper he was filling out. Alice and Ada sweat-dropped, sending one another knowing glances when they noticed the teacher's awkward state.

_'Oh dear Abyss, CHANGE THEIR MINDS.'_

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Meanwhile in Break's classroom...

"Break-sensei~!" a girl exclaimed as many hands rose up, waving impatiently as the females in his classroom were practically falling off of their seats in anticipation.

"Yes~?" the man replied, a pleasant smile on his face as he locked eyes with the girl, which was enough to make them swoon.

"Do you like sweet things?" the girl asked, and some hands went down, apparently showing that they were going to ask the same thing.

"Why, yes, in fact, I do~" Break chimed, standing up from his chair and walking in a dandy manner. "Anything ranging from treats, to cake, to candy~..." His feet carried him to the girl's desk, and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a little wrapped-up candy and pressing it to her lips. "...to sweet, cute, little girls."

"OMG, _KYAAAAAAAA_~~! MELT~!" the girls screamed out, jumping from their seats and waving their arms. "DO THAT TO ME TOO, BREAK-SENSEI~!"

The man chuckled. "All right~!"

For every second, the girls melted into a puddle of pudding in their seats, one-by-one, when Break gave them a piece of candy in many ways than one, speaking in playful manners.

Sharon was currently gripping the ends of her skirt, resisting the urge to scream out in frustration. _'Should I even be jealous of those girls? I-I mean, it's only Break and his constant flirting. I don't need that nonsense! Yes, yes, just ignore them, Sharon, and you'll be fine! You don't need candy at the moment!' _With a haughty 'hmph!', Sharon averted her eyes towards the windows, her eyes watching the sun rise.

"Hmmmm~? Are you sure about that, Sha-lon-sa-ma~?"

Sharon let out a high-pitched 'meep' when the sly man's voice chimed dangerously close to her ear, and when she glanced over to see, he was standing in front of her desk. "B-Break, I swear, if you dare to do anything to me, I'll...I'll slap you senseless with my fan! I-I'm serious!" _'And he called me Sharon-sama, even though I told him not to! That jerk!'_

A wide smirk graced his lips, his eyes showing mischief. "Yes, yes, whatever you say, Sharon-chan~!" he said, his hand reaching into his pocket as he pulled out a lollipop. He unwrapped the plastic covering from the lollipop before he pressed the candy against her lips, which were pressed together. "Now say ahh~"

Sharon's face burst into an array of many shades of red as she blushed. "Wh-What in the world are you doing?" she exclaimed, backing away.

He insisted though, and leaned across her desk more, the lollipop pressing against her lips again. "Come on, Sharon~"

Oh geez, Break, you persistent flirt. You know that you wanted to be like Oz and Alice yesterday.

Sharon had to decide. Either one: Take the candy and shove it in Break's mouth instead, hoping that he'd choke in the process. Or two: Take the candy just out of politeness and eat it. Or three: Give it to a hobo, and again, no offense.

She grimaced at option three, because she'd be either to scared to look at them, let alone touch them, or would be in a ten-foot radius away from them since they would smell bad...again, no offense.

One... Well, she could do that, but the girls in the classroom would practically murder her if she did that, even if Break didn't choke and die.

With a huff, she gave in. "Fine, fine, you win..." she muttered, her lips parting.

Break smiled and happily pushed it further past her lips, before letting go, leaving Sharon to eat it and hold it for herself. "See? That wasn't hard, was it?"

Sharon twitched. _'Oh, it is hard, you arrogant man, when there's a whole school of jealous fan-girls of yours, just itching to kill me, or smother me in my sleep.'_

Break's smile went wider. "Oya~ Really? I haven't noticed~"

The lady gave him a sharp glare, eyes narrowing. _'Bastard.'_ Before he could do anything to that, Sharon's mouth turned into a slight pout as she continued to lick her lollipop, her eyes averting towards the window to watch the sun again.

Break silenced and instead, a soft smile appeared on his features. "Well, I'll talk to you later, Sharon-chan~" And with that, he turned around and walked around the classroom, attending to the other fan-girls.

Deep down inside, she was glad to see that he hadn't forgotten about her.

**-x-x-x-x-**

Gilbert...was exasperated.

"Someone. ANYONE. Kill me now," he muttered, his whole body twitching as he observed his classroom.

_'Fan-girls... **Fan-girls.** FAN-GIRLS. ALL. OVER. THE. DAMN. CLASSROOM. EYE-RAPING. ME.'_

With a curse, Gilbert groaned and ran a hand through his raven locks.

"Crap, I need another smoke."

**-x-x-x-x-**

Meanwhile, in Jack's classroom...

Jack let out an awkward and nervous laugh as he scratched his cheek bashfully.

All the girls in his classroom were like jelly, roses perched atop their heads. "Ahhh, mother...father... I think I'm going to heaven now... My life is complete..."

The boys in the class were full of rage and jealously, seeing how the girls they liked, just oogled Jack, a teacher who has long blonde hair in a braid. Maybe...they should put their hair in braids too.

"Jack-sama... I love chuuuuuuuuuuu~!"

Or maybe not.

"Oops~! ...I think I over-did it."

The boys sent Jack a look of disbelief. "You think?"

He just laughed again, the sound strained and a lot more awkward.

**-x-x-x-x-**

"Ahh, Vincent-sensei~ Your cutting is wonderful as ever~!"

Vincent was pleased, nonetheless, to hear that. "Ah, my, my~ You really think so?" He pressed a hand to his cheek, sighing dramatically, once again. "You wonderful girls are like fire to my heart~!"

Boys puked.

_Snip._

Their body froze when they heard the noise dangerously close to their ear, strands of hair falling softly to the ground.

Vincent's multicolored eyes bore into their widened ones, the look of happiness wiped clean from his face. "You idiots will clean that up, won't you?" he said, his voice monotone.

"Y-Ye-Yes, Si-Sir...!" They cowered in fear as their eyes eyed those sharp scissors in the teacher's hands.

Thirty seconds later, they were already scrubbing and mopping the floors, making it spotless clean, so they would be able to escape Vincent's wrath.

However, the girls saw Vincent's scary side as a cool act, and squealed. "Kya~! Vincent-sensei, you're so cool~!"

As if the blonde man was never mad, the pleased look re-appeared on his face, a big smile across his lips. "Why, thank you~!"

_'Note: Never piss Vincent-sensei off, or you're screwed,'_ the boys thought, tears comically falling down their faces as they continued to clean up their mess.

**-x-x-x-x-**

The library was completely silent, save for the sounds of a computer being used and the turning of pages, it was a peaceful place. You could study in here for many hours, and bad students never hung out in the area. Not to mention that the library was spacious and huge, two stories high with bookshelves almost reaching the ceiling. Quite the wonderful place, in simple terms.

"LEEEOOO!"

Never-mind.

A guy with beige-colored hair stomped through the library, quite loudly that is to say, his blue eyes searching into every bookshelf. "Where the crap are you?"

"... Up here, Elliot."

Elliot, the guy with beige-colored hair, snapped his head up to the second level of the library, his eyes searching for that particular black-haired boy. He finally found him, leaning against the railing as he stared at Elliot, or his huge glasses facing him seemed like it. A book was dangling from his hands, right next to his crossed arms on the railing, his face as straight as ever.

"OI, LEO, get your ass down here and help me!" Elliot yelled, enraged.

Leo just yawned, pushing his glasses further up on his nose as he turned his attention back to his book. "It's your fault for slacking off during the break, you know. Why should I help you?" he replied.

The beige haired guy scowled. "Because you're my servant, and the you're my helper! Other than that, I was completing my music piece, you idiot!"

"Lame excuse." A sweat fell down Elliot's cheek. "If only you had focused on checking in all those books and put them back in the first place, you wouldn't be screaming across the library, now would you? Li-bra-ri-an."

Elliot, the librarian, grimaced. "FINE, screw you, Leo. I'll handle all this by myself!" With an annoyed growl, he stomped back to the librarian's desk.

A smirk just appeared on Leo's face as he turned a page of his book, Holy Knight. "I'm fine with that."

When the librarian stood in front of his desk, his eyes twitched noticeably as he eyed the tall piles of books stacked all around him. Face-palming, he slumped into his chair.

"...Crap, I should have dragged that damn servant down here."

**-x-x-x-x-**

* * *

Haha! Yes, Elliot and Leo are here~! You happy, guys? u )/

Anyway, I'm terribly sorry that it's been so long since I've written. So sorry! Forgive me! But rest assured, I'm not giving up on this fanfiction! I'm just simply lazy. *shot*

Thank you:

macchi-chan  
daceila  
Mel Melly Melt  
romancefanatic101  
Aku no tenshi  
Minori-chan  
rain-drops.06  
Anonymous Reviewer: Vivace  
daceila  
xXBloodstainedAliceXx  
kawaiighurl018  
Aku no tenshi  
deepoblivion99  
Jackie-chan  
forgotten music lover  
FEGeek  
mokonastephy88  
deepoblivion99  
Rebeca Jacinto Bonfim

Did I forget anyone? xD And thank you so much, you guys!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! By the way, did you like the slight crude humor in this? Tell me if you like it, so I know if I should add more of it. Hopefully, the language wasn't too bad in this... *sweatdrops* What type of things do you think I should improve in this? Oh, and for the heads up, I'm planning on re-writing the crappy summary of this fanfic, LOL.

Well, I'm wondering about this. Who should Ada end up with? Gilbert, Vincent, or Elliot? I'd appreciate it if you vote! :D

And when I update again, be ready for another fan-art! I'm probably gonna draw more than one, though, since I need something to draw other than the same things, LOL.

Sorry for the long A/N, but again, THANK YOU SO MUCH, EVERYONE! I'm so happy!

\(Q/u/Q)/ Until next time, everyone! And I'll make it quicker! Remember, reviews boost my writing spirit up!


	6. Full of Unknown Troubles

H-Hello, fellow readers! Uhm, as you may have seen, it's been a really long time since I ever updated this fanfiction. From November until now would be...amg, almost 7 months. /hides in shame forever/

I'm sure most of you guys were disappointed when I didn't update it any time sooner, but please keep in mind that I will never abandon this fanfiction! ; u ; Next time, I will put in the description about if it will go into a hiatus or not, so you guys will know. o u o;;

And wah, during my absence, there's been a lot of changes to this website, huh? Longer descriptions (amg, yes!), and you can even put images on your stories, wow~ xD That reminds me~ I'll be making another fan-art for this fanfiction, since it's been a long time ever since I updated it. Think of it as a comeback? /shot/ So yeah, if you're interested, please check out my deviantART! /shameless advertising, lol/ : .com

But anyway, without further ado, please enjoy this chapter! /Sigh, my writing hasn't improved at all. le sob/

Also, beware of extreme OOC-ness! /slapped

Disclaimer: (Lmao, I haven't done this in a long time) I do not own Pandora Hearts. It solely belongs to Mochizuki Jun. I only own this flimsy story and plot of mines, OTL.

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~ **True My Heart **~

_**Chapter 6 : Full of Unknown Troubles**_

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"... Snowdrop? Dinah? Kitty! Where are you?"

Light, hurried footsteps clicked and clacked onto the polished, wooden surface of the school floor, each sound echoing across the empty halls. Pants of catching air were faintly heard, before her soft voice called out her kittens' names, only to be responded by silence that enshrouded the whole building.

"Geez..." she whimpered, "Where did they all go?" Emerald eyes scanned the classrooms as she quickly passed them, but she stopped her quick pace into a halt soon after to catch her breath.

She did a quick scan around the area to make sure any furry kittens were lingering around, and they happened to stray on the clock hanging on the wall. "Oh no... It's getting late! I really need to hurry before I get locked in or something...!" With that, she quickly got back on track, her pace increasing more and more as she felt her anxiety increasing.

Just when she was passing the Home Economics Room, she bumped into someone tall. "Ah! I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, automatically bowing down in apology without even knowing who she bumped into.

"Oh? Is that you, Ada Vessalius? Why, it's lovely to see you~!"

Upon hearing her name being called and a very familiar voice, Ada looked up, curious.

Vincent Nightray stood there in his fabulous glory, a pleased smile on his face. Ada smiled at him, greeting, "Yes, Mr. Nightray. It's nice to see you too." Despite that, she couldn't help but notice the scissors that he held happily in the air beside his shoulders, looking dreadfully shiny for some reason.

"No need to be so formal, Ada~ There's nobody here. By the way, what are you doing here, so late after school has already ended?" Vincent asked, his multi-colored eyes staring at her in mere curiosity.

"A-Ah, no, I can't do that, Mr. Nightray! We're still in school, you know," Ada objected, her emerald eyes glancing here and there. "And uhm... I'm looking for my kittens. They seem to have roamed around, and I can't find them..."

"Oh my, really?" Vincent gasped, before he added, "Well, would you mind for a little bit of company as I help you in your search?"

Ada's eyes made contact with his in surprise. "Oh, no! I-I wouldn't mind at all! Bu-But...I really don't want to bother you, Mr. Nightray."

Vincent just chuckled, his hand flicking his blonde hair over his shoulders in a somewhat fabulous hair-flip. "You're not bothering me at all, Ada. Besides, I was the one who asked. Surely, you don't mind, right?" Ada just nodded, causing Vincent to beam, his scissors clipping together cheerfully. "Lovely! Now, shall we go, Ada?"

Ada could never forget that glint in his beautiful multi-colored eyes.

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**.:truemyheart:.**

"So...tell me, boy. How long are you going to follow me?"

Oz just blinked his eyes in a somewhat innocent way. "What, is it a crime to walk in the same direction as you?" he asked in a pure tone, his lips forming a pout.

Alice cringed at her teacher's appearance, her lavender eyes taking in his face. " It is when you're a teacher who loves to flirt with his students," she said. _'And it's a crime when you're 18 and you're a teacher with a baby-face.'_

With a few steps closer to her, his hands were clasping hers in front of him, pulling them two to a stop. "Arisu~" he began, "... Can I come over to your house?" He gave her a face that would make any girl squeal and faint. His eyes were wide and shining, his hair in that messy style of his that framed his chubby cheeks. His long blonde eyelashes flittered, his lips pulled into a pout once again.

_'... Oh dear Abyss, I'm ashamed to be a girl. Anybody would take him away to their own house, instead of me.'_

"No, Oz. Stop it or I'll slap that disgusting look off of your face," Alice threatened, her eyes narrowing into a glare before she snatched her hands away from his and began to stomp down the street, her long brown locks swishing behind her.

"W-Wait, Alice!" he called out, quickly catching up with her. "Why can't I?"

Alice sighed loudly, her breath forced through clenched teeth. "Because 1.) You're my teacher. 2.) Because of that, rumors will arise if they see us together. 3.) Because of that, you'll get fired, and I'll get expelled from school. That enough reasons for you?"

"What about if I was just coming over as your childhood friend, instead of a teacher?"

That almost made Alice stop in her tracks and think about it again. A moment of silence ensued them, causing Oz to swallow in anticipation.

That is, until Alice's voice broke it. "Sorry. Maybe another time." And with that, she walked away, her long brown locks swishing behind her.

Oz could have imagined it, but he was sure that her strong voice that had always sounded so determined and strong-built...wavered for a slight second.

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.**:truemyheart:.**

_'Damn. Damn. Damn it all!'_

Her feet hit the ground hard, and Alice almost stumbled from the tall height she jumped from her second story apartment stairs. Clumsily snatching and yanking her messenger bag onto her shoulder from the ground, she immediately bolted towards the main road, only taking the risk of looking back once.

Thugs wearing black suits were on her tail, screaming profanities and forcing their chunky bodies to run after her.

Well, they weren't really thugs. Filthy, rich, fat gang members that hunt down people with debt, to be exact.

Oh, wait, you're probably wondering what was happening before this, right? Here's a little recap.

After Alice had left Oz standing there, she had headed straight home to her apartment, taking the long way home, just in case he was following her. Immediately changing into her regular clothing which consisted of a long, white blouse, a red jacket, black skirt, and fuzzy black socks, she plopped onto her chair in her kitchen and rested her cheek on the dining table.

"Ugh, I'm hungry..." she groaned, knowing that she had eaten everything out of her refrigerator and cabinet last night, which really wasn't much at all. "I should've gone to the grocery store earlier." _'...Stupid Oz. Stupid me.'_ Closing her eyes, she gave out a sigh, deciding that she would take a nap. _'Just thirty more minutes, and I'll head to work.'_

Not even five minutes later, a yell came from her front door, causing Alice to jump straight up from surprise. "... You brat, I know you're in there! Open the damn door!" the yell came again, accompanied by fists banging on the door.

_'... Oh, hell no.'_

Alice frantically jumped from her chair, almost causing it to topple backwards. Quickly running towards her room, she snatched her messenger bag from it's place on her desk, before she ran to her front door-and no, she wasn't going to answer it. She wasn't that dumb. Snatching a pair of her shoes and sliding them on, she almost cringed at the racket those guys were making.

Banging on the door didn't seem enough, so now they were practically throwing their body weight against it, trying to break it down. And before that happened, Alice needed to get out of here. Fast.

First off, the front door was a complete no to escape through, cause who knows how many fat men were out there, dying to get their hands on her. So where else can you get out of an apartment?

Bingo~! The window.

Unlatching the lock on the living room window, Alice heaved the heavy glass frame up, almost all the way to the top to have enough room to squeeze through, and well, the window wasn't that big.

Just one foot on the window sill, Alice was about to jump off when she heard a loud crash by the front door.

"What the hell are you doing, you brat? You had better not jump from that window!" the gang screamed at her, already stumbling after her.

_'Pfft, like I'd listen to what you guys say.' _"Good-bye, suckers~! she chimed. And with that, Alice braced herself and jumped out of her window.

Oh Abyss, she felt like she was jumping off the roof of a building. Only smaller.

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**.:truemyheart:.**

"... Hey, you little brat! Stop where you are-!" The non-stop screaming and stomping footsteps of those gang members filled her ears, causing Alice's adreline and heartbeat to quicken and make her run as fast as she could.

Well, maybe too fast to even control your movements.

In a split second, Alice was thrown to the ground, her whole body making contact with the rough concrete. At first, she thought that one of the gang members had gotten her, but after she realized that there wasn't any heavy weight on top of her, she found out that it was the pothole in the road that caused her to fall. The gang was far behind her, probably becoming tired by running so much, but they were still coming towards her.

And she needed to get away fast if she didn't want to get caught by them.

Alice tried to move her limbs, but she forced herself to bite down on her lip hard, preventing a cry of pain to erupt from her. She soon felt the overwhelming pain embedded all over her body, especially her elbows and knees, where a stabbing sensation came from the joints. Damn, she must have scraped it when she fell. Swallowing down hard to not make any sounds, the taste of strong iron was left on her tongue. Great. Just great.

Even though the loud sound of her heart beart was pounding in her ears, she could also hear the footsteps that continued to become louder and closer.

She was in some really deep trouble now.

Before she could even move, her head spun, a headache beginning to form, making her rest her head where it was earlier.

The only thing she saw was the sight of brown boots standing in front of her, and the glint of a familiar stopwatch swaying from a belt-hoop, before she blacked out.

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**.:truemyheart:.**

_"...Alice, you're my precious niece, and I'll never forget you. So please, can you forgive me for everything I've done?" A hand enclosed over Alice's cheeks, his thumb smoothing over the stream of tears, wiping it away._

_Frail, little Alice cried out, sharply stepping away from his reach. His expression turned into surprise, his eyes showing a look of despair. "I-I can't...!" she sobbed, putting her hands over her face, her entire body shaking from her crying. "...I can't, Glen..._

_**... Because you betrayed me. Don't you understand that?"**_

_Glen's eyes widened, completely taken aback. "Alice...?"_

_**"You killed my mother, your own sister. You're beginning to fall into the miserable life of debt, our possesions are being taken away, and what do you do?"**__Alice's eyes hardened, her maroon eyes glaring deep into his. __**"You throw it all onto me and run away."**__ A cold smirk lifted her lips, and she gave out a giggle. __**"You pitiful man."**_

_'W-Wait...' Alice gasped and shook her head, terrified at her own words. ' Th-That's not what I wanted to say-! What-?'_

_Glen's expression hardened, and his hands grabbed her arms tightly, almost causing pain and causing her to snap to attention. "... That's right, Alice. You're completely right," he said. "I'm a selfish man who killed his own sister for the name of the house. I'm a pitiful man who lost everything, leaving you behind while you're dealing with all of these complications that you might not understand yet."_

_"But you know what?" His face contorted in a soft, caring look, and Alice's lavender eyes looked into his tearful ones. He reached his head up and planted a small kiss on her forehead before he said it:_

_"... I love you, no matter what, as my precious little niece."_

_That was the last she ever saw of him, with his words forever embedded in her memory._

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_**.**_**:truemyheart:.  
**

The feeling of a wet cloth on her skin made Alice relax comfortably, allowing her to enjoy the gentle touches of coolness. Well, that is, until it touched her elbow.

"O-Ow...!" she hissed loudly when she came to, her senses coming back to her and an unbearable feeling of pain shooting through her elbows and knees.

"Oh, Alice!" She heard someone heave out a great sigh of relief, and a hand touched her shoulder lightly. "Thank goodness you're awake..."

"Wait- Who...?" Alice opened her lavender eyes, but her vision became unfocused when a slight migrane pierced her head when she lifted her it to focus on the person in front of her.

_'...Oh my Abyss.'_

"You all right?" he asked her worriedly, his emerald eyes searching her face for any reaction.

_'Oz? M-My savior...?'_

Comprehending on the obvious question he asked, Alice scowled. "Does it look like I'm okay?" she growled, attempting to push herself up into a sitting position, her teeth gritting hard at the growing pain in her elbows, but she was pushed back down.

"Don't, Alice. You need to rest," Oz said firmly, not letting her move from her place on the bed.

_'Wait... Bed?'_

She snapped to attention, her torso lifting up in response, and she widly searched the place she was in, only to recieve a stinging pain through her entire body and a push back down onto the comfortable bed once again.

"Chill, Alice! You're in my room. I brought you to my house," Oz informed her. When Alice stared at him weirdly, he quickly added, "I didn't do anything to you while you were out, okay?"

"No," Alice said, feeling a slight flush of embarrassment, but she shook it away. "How'd you find me? And did you see any gangs coming after me?"

Oz leaned back in his chair beside the bed, tossing the dirtied cloth in a bucket right next to him. "Oh, that," he said. "You were lucky I was around the area, or you would've been beaten to a pulp. And geez, what the heck happened to you? When I ran over, you were like this. You tripped or something?"

Alice coughed, attempting to hide her embarrassment. "A-Anyway, what happened to the gang?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, don't worry about them. I kicked their asses and they ran away," Oz replied haughtily, looking quite proud of himself. Alice just stared at him like he had grown two heads. "What?"

"Y-You? A wimpy teacher like you beat them up?" she stuttered out, not believing what he just said.

Oz pouted. "Is that a bad thing? And hey, I'm not a wimp, you know that, Alice."

Alice simply lifted her leg closest to him and kicked him in the stomach, causing Oz to groan and rub the area she kicked him at.

"What the hell, Ali-"

_"Are you stupid?"_ Alice shouted angrily, her eyes glaring unbelievably at him. "You beat them up? Do you know what'll happen if Uncle Oscar hears about this?" With a little bit of difficulty, she lifted her torso and jabbed Oz in the chest. "You're going to get fired, because you beat up some thugs! Plus, they're going to go after you, and worse, sue you! And it'll be all of my fault!" She bit her lip. "How could you do that?" She was screaming now, her hand grabbing a handful of his white blouse and her other hand pounding against his chest.

"... Alice... -Alice, _Alice...!_" Oz shouted, his hands roughly grasping her wrists and pulling them away from him, causing the brunette to silence immediately and look at him in the eyes, tears of anger threatening to fall from her glistening eyes. "It's not gonna be your fault! I was the one who decided to butt in and help you! If they're going to come after me and sue me, they can do that!"

His grip on her wrists softened and he grasped her hands gently. Alice could've sworn that her heart skipped a beat when he pulled her into a warm embrace. "... As long as my precious Alice is safe, I'm willing to do whatever I can," he said softly.

She almost broke down at those words coming from her childhood friend, but she bit her lip harder and kept her feelings in. She decided to wrap her arms awkwardly around him and burrow her head onto his shoulder, hiding her face from him.

Even though it was the first time she had ever been hugged by a guy, she knew that she was getting completely out of character. Giving him a squeeze and breathing in deeply, she pushed herself away from him, breaking their skinship.

Oz realized what he was doing and he flushed in embarrassment, a red tint on his cheeks. Alice was in the same predicament, but since she didn't want him to see, she immediately got out of bed, ignoring the stinging pain on her joints.

"... I-I'm gonna go take a shower, if you don't mind. Besides, I seriously need it," Alice quickly said, "Show me where it is."

Oz snapped to attention and stood up also. Leading her towards the bathroom, he couldn't help but ask, "You sure you're gonna be all right washing yourself with those nasty wounds you have?" Alice just glared at him.A smirk then lifted his lips. "If you don't mind, I can help you-"

Alice flushed and kicked his leg, only recieving a shoot of pain through her own. "Forget about it, you pervert," she hissed, before turning to the mirror. "Oh, Abyss, I look like crap." She really did. With her long brown locks tangled and matted to her head, dirt and dried blood covering most of her body, and her clothing ripped, torn, and ruined, she looked like a homeless person.

Oz couldn't help but chuckle at that, earning another kick to the leg. "Ouch. Well, I'll just go and grab a pair of spare clothes for you to wear, all right? Help yourself to the bathroom." He then started to back out, leaving her in the bathroom all by herself.

With a sigh, Alice began to strip off her soiled clothes, wincing at the slight pain and sight of them. Not giving a crap about the now-useless clothes, she left them on the counter, noting to herself to throw it away later on.

Stepping in the shower and turning on the nozzles, she waited for the hot water to come before beginning to wash the blood and grime off of her body. Watching the blood and dirt fall through the drain, she realized how filthy she was. _'And I was laying on his bed too!'_ Covering her face with her hands in shame, she shook her head, clearing her head of any thoughts before she continued to wash her body.

And let's just say that it was a very painful experience, dealing with the soap and warm water stinging repeatedly at her wounds.

Finally finished, she got of the shower, grabbing the towel on the counter near her. Seeing the new set of clothes also, she quickly dried herself and slipped on her undergarments (which were thankfully clean and okay) and his clothes, which was a white blouse and sporty shorts that were a size too big for her, but it was better than nothing.

Rubbing the towel against her long, damp hair (which required her to have a non-stop stinging pain in her elbows), she left the humid bathroom and into the cool area of Oz's house. Shivering at the cool air touching her slightly wet skin, she decided to wander around. This was her first time at his house, anyway.

However, her exploration time was short when she entered the living room, where Oz was sitting there on the couch, the TV showing some anime on. She opted to sitting a distance away from him on the same couch, since it was the only one they had in the room, her hands continuing to towel her hair.

"Ah, you're finished?" Oz asked, turning to look at her, only to have his breath taken away at the sight of her. Freshly washed and clean, Alice just simply nodded. "W-Well, I think we should start tending to those wounds then." He patted the spot next to him. "Scoot closer to me."

She obliged, but when she spotted the first-aid kit full of alcoholic sprays and other medical essentials, she immediately scooted away. _'Oh no. No no no no.' _"Ah! So, uh, what're you watching?" she asked, hoping to stall time.

Oz picked up the bottle of alcohol spray and some gauzes. "Oh, it's a pretty old anime. Pandora Hearts, I think it was called."

"Oh, really? Well, it looks interesting," Alice said, keeping her eyes focused on the television.

"Yeah, maybe that'll keep you distracted while I tend your wounds," Oz said, turning his head to look at her. He then proceeded to scoot closer to her, a smile creeping onto his face.

"A-Ah, nevermind! Do you have a hair dryer? It'll be faster to dry my hair," she quickly said, standing up and looking around, acting as if she was looking for it. "I might catch a cold, too."

"Hmmm, I'll get it for you later after I'm done, okay?" Oz grabbed her arm, pulling her back down onto the couch.

"W-Wait," she said, glaring at Oz, who was grinning. Scooting away from him, she was aghast when she realized that she was on the edge of the couch. He, however, continued to inch closer to her, the bottle of alcohol still in his hands. "D-Don't you dare come near me, Oz! You know I hate that alcohol spray!"

"Deal with it, Alice~ You know that you're not gonna get away with this~" Oz chimed, an evil glint now showing in his eyes. "If you won't allow me to tend your injuries, you're going to get an infection, you know~ And you don't want that happening, do you?"

_'Damn it.'_ Alice almost felt like giving up, but she tried her last attempt to persuade him. "P-Please, Oz~?" she whimpered, batting her wide, puppy-like eyes at him.

Oz almost choked at the sight of her acting so earnestly. "...Alice..."

"Yes~?" she chimed, desperately trying to put on her best cute act.

"Come here!" he shouted, grabbing for her. Alice's first instinct was to get the hell out of there, but due to her injuries, she was a second too slow and was abruptly pinned to the ground.

"Ow, watch it-!" She was going to yell at him, but when she looked up and realized their positions, a huge blush began to crawl onto her face.

Oz was sprawled over her, his face pressed against her flat stomach, his arms wrapped around her hips, and need-less to say, it looked so wrong.

Just then, the sound of the front door opening and footsteps coming in caused the two to freak out, their blood running cold. Oz was about to get off of Alice before a familiar soft voice stopped him in place.

"... U-Uhm... Big brother...?"

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.**:truemyheart:.**

"Geez, Brother, I thought you were molesting one of your students!" Ada said, frowning.

That caused said brother and Alice to choke on their own breath and blush in embarrassment for being seen in such a situation.

"You should've told me earlier that Alice was hurt, because I would have gone straight home to help you," the blonde girl said, "Next time, call me whenever you bring someone home or something, all right?" Oz nodded, and Alice couldn't help but wonder who was the older one here.

Ada gave out a sigh and stood up before grabbing the first-aid kit by the couch. Alice blanched at what she was going to do. _'Oh hell no, not her too-'_

Before she could make a run for it, Ada shouted, "Big brother, hold her down!" And in a matter of seconds, Alice was helplessly pinned onto the couch, Oz locking her in a grip so that she wouldn't run away.

All she could do was flail her legs, scream, and stare at the menacing glint Ada had in her eyes.

Let's just say that she fainted half-way through the process, when an overwhelming amount of alcoholic spray was stinging her wounds so badly that she couldn't bear it anymore.

When she had woken up, it was midnight, and Alice groaned when she felt the gauzes wrapped around her elbows and knees. At least the worst was over for now.

She then realized that she was in a different room and nobody was with her, so she assumed that she must be in the guest room or something. Still feeling sleepy, she snuggled against the fluffy comforter and pillows, before giving out a sigh of content, fluttering her eyes closed.

Before she fell into a deep slumber once again, she whispered quietly to no one in particular:

_"... Thank you."_

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And that's all for now! ; u ;)/

This story finally has a plot, doesn't it? xD Because of that: I'll be updating this fanfiction probably every so weeks, but since I'm finally on summer break, expect more frequent updates, haha! And I'll be keeping my word! u

And also, I'll be changing the summary, since it sounds pretty...crappy. /shotdead

So uh... Even though I shouldn't say this, I would love it if you review and give me a bit of your opinions on the story so far!

Thank you so much for reading! I love you all!


	7. One Problem After Another

Erm, h-hi? /dives into a hole/ It's been a _long _while hasn't it? I actually started this ages ago after I posted the last chapter, but never got to finishing it until...now. Had a bit of planning problems, along with life situations. I clearly can't keep promises, /sobsforever;; However, I apologize deeply for those who looked forward to the updates of this fanfiction so much. ; A ; Since many of you lovely people wanted updates, I got the inspiration to finish it, although I didn't have time to re-read it for mistakes, so excuse the typos.;;  
By the way, I referenced from the scene to where Oz and Gil sees Zai again from the anime/manga in this chapter, so if you're wondering to why it seems so familiar, that's why! xD

Anyway, lame excuses aside, I hope you enjoy this!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts or any of the characters. It solely belongs to Mochizuki Jun!

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**True My Heart**

**neyuchi**

**Chapter 7:**

**One Problem After Another**

The sounds of someone's footsteps resounded throughout the quiet library as each step neared the librarian's desk, where a man with short beige hair stood, completely immersed in the piles of books stacked almost five feet tall all around him on the floor. He, however, didn't notice the approaching person for he wasn't visible behind the books that blocked his view. Well, that was, until that person slammed a thick book onto the librarian's desk, making a loud _'boom'_ to resound throughout the library.

The librarian jumped as a yell of surprise slipped from his mouth, his blue eyes widening in alarm behind his spectacles that were barely on the bridge of his nose. "W-who's there?!" he demanded in anger, becoming furious at the fact that he was frightened for a moment, as embarrassing as that was.

At that question/demand, a pair of gloved hands slipped between the cracks of the stacked books and pushed them aside, allowing the librarian to see who it was. "It's me, Elliot," a raven-haired man said, his eyebrows raising in amusement. With a smirk on his lips, he eyed his younger brother, "... Oh no, did I scare you?"

"G-Gilbert!" Elliot exclaimed in surprise at seeing his brother's face. Coming back to what Gilbert had just said, he immediately scowled and turned away, pretending to flip through the books that were piled around. "Tch, like I'd be scared of a little bit of noise," he grumbled, his face tinting red from embarrassment.

"Pfft." Chuckling at his little brother's flustered appearance, he leaned slightly on the edge of the desk in a relaxed way, continuing to poke fun at his embarrassed brother, all the while his golden eyes curiously observing what was going on behind the desk. "How's everything going?"

"Oh, things are _really_ wonderful, brother," he replied, his words dripping with sarcasm, "All of these damn books are going to be a pain in the ass to arrange back in the library." He put together a stack of books that were organized by their genres and names of the same kind before dropping it on a rolling cart that were already full of other books about who-knows-what. "How was yours?"

Gilbert groaned in agony as he buried his face in his hands, his black hair splaying over his gloved fingers. "... Don't even mention it."

Elliot couldn't help but poke fun at the devastated teacher this time. "Oh? Were girls chasing after your wagging tail again, Gilbert?" he teased, using a finger pointer that was in the pencil holder on his desk to poke his brother's cheek.

The raven swatted it away immediately in annoyance, picking his head up and giving the beige-haired man a sharp glare. "Shut up, Elliot," he grumbled. "I can barely breathe for one second without having raging students screaming and stalking me all over campus."

"And whose fault is that, Mr. So-Called-Handsome?" Elliot chuckled, placing the finger pointer back on the desk before turning back to his assigned work. He was answered with a sharp jab in the side from the toy he had just previously put down, causing him to whip back around to yell at the older man—only to be cut off by a girl's soft, yet clear warning.

"W-Watch out, Mr. Nightray!"

"Huh?" The two brothers were confused by who the girl's warning was actually for—with having three Nightray's in the school building, no wonder—and turned their direction towards where the voice came from.

Just then, two pairs of dull claws latched onto Gilbert's head tightly, almost piercing holes in his scalp if not for the cut-down nails. It followed with a light weight being landed onto the man's head, a fluffy tail flicking and brushing against his nose. He was about to grab the thing that was latched onto his head—annoyed at the fact that it was scrunching up and messing up his seaweed-styled hair—before he heard it omit a sound.

"_Meow!_"

It took barely one second for the man to realize what exactly was latching onto his head. His scream pierced through the quiet atmosphere of the library, causing Elliot to scream too in alarm, who was a second too late in realizing what had just happened.

"G-Get this thing off of me!" Gilbert's frightened yells filled the big room as he scampered around aimlessly, attempting to pull the kitten off his head, only to scream again when it dug its claws deeper into his scalp. Another shriek came from the man as he tried to turn away in the opposite direction when another kitten walked in front of his path lightly as if it didn't know what was going on. Completely pale and fear-stricken, he almost broke down in tears right then and there. "S-_SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME...!"_

Elliot, who saw how the man was knocking over the wooden chairs and tables, was enraged. "Oi, watch where you're running into, Gilbert! If you keep on doing that, I'm not gonna save your damn ass!" he yelled, a vein beginning to appear in his forehead.

He was about to run after the screaming man and chuck a really thick book at that seaweed head when he noticed two people running closer to the scene in the corner of his eye, causing him to pause and look at who was coming. A scowl immediately appeared on his face when he saw who it was—what's her face—oh, that Vessalius girl, and his other non-blood brother, Vincent Nightray.

"I-I'm so sorry, Mr. Nightray, for causing such a disruption in the library!" The Vessalius girl immediately apologized when she reached the librarian, bowing sincerely. "I-I'll just help Mr. Nightray and leave quickly!"

Even though he saw how flustered and sincere she was, Elliot—who always had a hate for the Vessalius'—couldn't help but just frown. "If that's so, hurry up with your business and get out of my library, Vessalius," he snarled coldly, averting his blue eyes towards the other person approaching them.

Ada winced at his harsh tone, her hands unconsciously clutched together in front of her chest tightly. But without giving it another thought, she quickly bowed her head respectfully and tended to the scene in the library. Immediately rushing to the still-screaming Gilbert, who was currently being chased by kittens, she was able to pull her kitten off of Gilbert's head without any severe injuries before gathering her other remaining kittens.

Meanwhile, Vincent strolled towards the librarian leisurely—who was still frowning—as his gloved hand flicked his blond hair over his shoulder, causing the beige-haired man's eye to twitch in irritation at his flamboyant entrance behind his spectacles. "Hey there, Elliot. Nice to see you still alive and moody as usual," he greeted, waving his hand.

Although Elliot was always peculiar about Vincent and his obsession of cutting up stuffed bunnies with scissors, he and Vincent had always been on normal terms. "Nice seeing you alive and...happy as usual, too, Vincent," he replied, a bit careful about what he just said. "What were you doing with that Vessalius girl earlier, by the way?"

Vincent smiled gleefully as he twirled the scissor around on his finger. "Oh, nothing really. Just merely killing time during her search of her kittens. It's amusing to see her running all over the place like a frightened, lost puppy."

Elliot couldn't help but sweat-drop. _'...You make her sound so pitiful.'_ He brushed all of his thoughts aside when he saw Ada and Gilbert walk back to the two, her helping the math teacher to walk straight.

"Had fun, Gilbert?" Elliot asked, a smirk lifting his lips at the shaken man, "That sure was some racket you made." _'Not to mention the more work I have to do now because of him.'_ He was only answered with a weak glare, before Gil collapsed onto a nearby chair, completely drained from life and energy.

Seeing his brother whom he 'loves so much,' Vincent gasped and rushed to Gil's side, causing a dramatic scene to occur between the two. That left Ada and Elliot standing off to the side by themselves awkwardly, neither of them saying a word.

After a couple of minutes that passed, Elliot, not wanting the Vessalius girl in his presence any longer, turned away from her before walking behind his desk, again pretending as if he was working. "... What are you doing, still standing there? Didn't I tell you to get out of my sight earlier, Vessalius?" he said in irritation, noticing how she was still in the same place, unmoving.

The girl shifted her feet and bit her lip awkwardly before she averted her emerald eyes towards his turned back. "... I-I apologize again for the commotion, Mr. Nightray. If you'll excuse me, I'll be leaving now." Giving him and the other two a polite bow in farewell, she cradled one of her kittens in her arms before calling out to the others to follow her as she turned her back and left the library.

The librarian didn't even dare to look back at her...and neither did she.

* * *

**.:truemyheart:.**

_White flecks of snow drifted through the chilly air softly, casting a blanket of white all over the town as it thickened within every passing hour. A little boy dressed in a formal outfit ran and hopped into the snow on the ground, his laughter filling the empty air as the white tufts of snow splayed all over his boots._

"_Come on, Gil! The snow's really thick!" he called out, waving his hand towards his friend excitedly, who, in turn, shook his head in disagreement._

"_Y-Young Master, I can't! You're not supposed to be out here, you know!" Gil cried out, remaining planted on the side-walk that was covered in a thin layer of snow._

_The young master just laughed and brushed it away. "Aw, come on, Gil—Can't we have some fun on this beautiful white day?" he said, spreading his arms wide apart before he stepped forward and grabbed Gilbert's small arm, who continued to protest. Being suddenly pulled in, Gilbert lost his balance and fell into the field of snow, his face pressing into the soft, white snow. Feeling the stinging coldness of the cold ground, he shrieked and immediately pushed himself off of the freezing ground before brushing the remaining snow on his face. At seeing his reddened face, Oz giggled and threw a few snow balls at the boy, causing him to yell in protest once again._

_Just then, Oz saw something black move in the corners of his eyes, causing him to turn and look, Gilbert doing so also. "M-Master..!" the servant exclaimed in surprise at seeing who it was, his eyes widening._

_Zai Vessalius stood in front of them, followed with a couple of other men dressed in the same attire as him behind. His eyes were hidden from the hat was wearing, but the two kids could feel his sight focused only on them. Oz's face brightened at the sight of him, beginning to walk up to him. Gilbert, however, was bewildered. Why was the Master who was never around, here at this time?_

"_Fathe—!" Oz reached out his hand to the unmoving man as he neared him, only to be taken aback when his father's slapped his hand away harshly from him._

"_**Don't touch me, you piece of filth."**_

* * *

**.:truemyheart:.**

Oz's eyes snapped open as his body lurched forward, and a short yell slipped from his mouth, his hand grasping his loose dress shirt tightly as he found himself struggling to breath properly. Realizing how his body was slightly shaking violently as he was covered in cold sweat from head-to-toe, he groaned, knowing that he just had a bad dream.

_**'"Don't touch me, you piece of filth."'**_

His father's voice echoed in head, sending an ominous shiver throughout his body. Drawing in a shaky breath, he let out a sigh before burying his face in his hands, his golden hairs askew and disheveled over and down his face and hands. Wanting to escape from the dead echoes of those pain-staking words repeating over one another in his head, he squeezed his eyes closed, attempting to banish his voice from his mind.

"Damn it..." he muttered, his fingers grabbing a bit of his hair in between, as he gritted his teeth.

Seconds passed as he sat there on his messy bed, his breathing and heartbeat beginning to calm down with each passing moment. From across the house, footsteps pounded loudly on the ground with haste before the slamming of his opened door followed, causing him to shoot his face up to see who it was, not to mention the skipping of a heart-beat by the sudden intrusion. "_Oz?!_"

"A-Alice...?" Oz breathed out in surprise, his emerald eyes focused on the disheveled girl standing in front of his doorway with heavy breaths as her lavender eyes searched around the room for any sign of danger that could have possibly endangered the boy.

The brunette immediately rushed to his side at seeing the man on his bed, all the while her eyes frantically checking him up and down for any injuries. "Are you okay, Oz?!" she asked in alarm, her hand automatically cupping his cheek as she scanned his appearance once again.

Oz realized that she must have heard his yell before rushing to his room, despite her injuries from the previous day since he could see the gauzes, that used to be wrapped firmly around her legs and arms, completely dangling and astray in the air. "O-Oh... Yeah..." he said absentmindedly, his stunned emerald eyes meeting her worried ones.

Urked by his short answer, she felt the urge to shake him senseless, but nonetheless, she felt a huge wave of relief wash over her at seeing how he was all right and okay. Just to relieve all of her pent-up tension inside of her in those past few minutes, she raised her hand and gave Oz's forehead a harsh flick. He, in return, flinched at the surprise flick and whined before rubbing the now-throbbing pain on his forehead.

"Sheesh, you scared me for a moment there, you know! I thought someone had kidnapped you or something!" Crossing her arms, she huffed and turned away from the man, an expression of anger clearly shown on her face. "The next time you scare me to death over nothing again, it'll be a fist to your face, boy!"

Oz couldn't help but force a small laugh out of his mouth. "Ahaha~ What are you talking about? Surely that's a lie, right, Alice?" He tried to brush it off, but when she didn't say anything and he stopped laughing, a tense silence ensued between them. "... Uhm, right...?"

The ominous cracking of her knuckles and that evil glint in her lavender eyes proved him wrong.

* * *

**.:truemyheart:.**

After the commotion of Alice threatening to snap Oz's neck off when he commented on how much a brutal girl she was, they sat on his bed in an awkward silence, not knowing what to say next. Alice, beginning to feel a bit choked from the tension, jumped off of the bed and onto her feet lightly. Oz looked at her, wondering what the girl was up to.

"I'm gonna head home," she informed him as she walked over to his bedroom door. "I need to check if it's still...in one piece." Oz noticed how she grimaced at that word as if it was a word of taboo, before she turned away. _'Since I'm pretty sure that those thugs smashed everything in sight. And not to mention that the landlady is going to give me hell for it.'_

Before she could even take a step out of his door, his hand grabbed her arm in an attempt to stop her. Unfortunately for Alice, her wounds were still sensitive, causing a painful sting to practically zap her arm. "Ouch, watch it, you damn idiot!" she hissed, yanking her arm out of his grip as she gave him a sharp glare. "What do you want now?"

"Oops," he muttered, before holding up his hands apologetically and taking a step back from her. "I-I just wanted to check your wounds." She looked at him weirdly, as if she was indicating his grabbing of her arm just earlier. "...It seems like the bandages are coming loose."

Quickly glancing down at her self, she realized that he was right. The gauzes were practically dangling from her arms and legs, revealing the scratches she couldn't help but cringe at. "Just great," she grumbled.

"I'll help you," he offered.

She smiled at him sweetly. "No thank you," she cheerfully replied back before frowning and stalking off. Too bad she didn't make it that far, because right when she had taken another step, her foot got caught in one of her gauzes and she fell face-down on the wooden floor with a loud thump.

"... Ow."

* * *

**.:truemyheart:.**

"—Damn it, Oz!" Alice hissed sharply, her breath getting caught in her throat when she felt a particular substance being sprayed on her wounds. "Can you stop spraying so much of that crap on me? It hurts like hell, you know!"

Oz just chuckled, shaking his head at her in amusement. "Stop being such a wuss, Alice—"

"Would you like another punch to the face this time, boy?" she growled in a malice tone, turning her head away from the man in an attempt to hide her embarrassed face. Unknown to her, he noticed it, and much to his amusement, he couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his joyful face. When she looked back at him, he immediately wiped the smile off of his face and acted as if he was busy tending her wounds.

After a (very unneeded) amount of time, he finally finished, patting her hand lightly as an indication that he was done. Seeing how he had once again done a decent job at being her (personal) doctor, she stood up before beginning to walk off towards the room.

"Hey."

His voice stopped her in her steps, causing her to take a brief look back at him. "What?"

With a half-smile, he crossed his arms across his chest as if he was waiting for something. "Shouldn't I get something in return?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

_'Huh? Something, he says?'_ Without a sound from the girl, she stared at him for a while, all the while racking her brain for that 'something.' _'What the heck does he want? … Meat? Candy? Cigarettes—No scratch that, he'd never smoke that disgusting crap.'_ She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts and think of something more...logical. _'Of course, it should be something physical, since he did help me with my injuries and practically my ass.' _Just then, something brilliant appeared in her head when she remembered what Sharon had once shown her before. _'That's it!'_

The blonde sweat-dropped when he noticed how a minute had passed ever since he had first asked her. Did it really, _really_ take this long to say something so simple, or was Alice just dense? He opened his mouth and was about to tell her to just forget it when suddenly she boldly walked up to him quickly, an expression of determination on her face. "What are you—?"

Soft, warm lips. That was all he felt in just a split second that had ended too soon. When her lips pressed against his cheek, he could have sworn that his heart had skipped a beat and that his entire body had frozen up. His mouth just hung open, the words that he was about to say already dying on his tongue.

"... T-Thank you, Oz."

Before the blonde boy could even recover from his shocked state and give her a reply, the brunette had already bolted out of the room, her long, brown locks swaying in the air behind her. "... Y-You're...welcome..." was all he could say lamely, only to have the silence air answer him in return.

* * *

**.:truemyheart:.**

"Home, sweet home."

Alice nimbly hopped over the broken, wooden piece of wood that used to be her front door, her shoes stepping onto her dusted carpet that a cloud of dust burst out from. She fanned her hand in front of her in an attempt to disperse the dust around her before continuing to observe what was left of her apartment.

"Uwah... So this is your...home, huh?" The sound of creaking wood being stepped on came from the doorway. "Couldn't expect anything worse than what those thugs did here." Oz's voice came from behind her as he entered the small place, being careful to not stop on anything sharp or that was of Alice's possession.

"Gee, thanks," she muttered. "Lovely sight, isn't it?" She chuckled in a grim tone as she picked up the broken pieces of ceramic dishes from the floor. "This is the first time I invite you over and there's barely anything here that's in one piece, save for the walls and refrigerator. Not so inviting, is it?"

Oz didn't know what to say to that, knowing that he would only add onto her despair if he agreed to what she thought. Without a word, he walked over to the apron that was still hanging on the tack on the wall in the kitchen before grabbing it. Quickly tying it on and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, he picked up the fallen broom and dust pan before beginning to sweep the dust, dirt, and broken objects into the pan.

Alice, who had been watching him, was a bit flabbergasted at his actions. "What the hell are you doing?" she blatantly asked him.

"Cleaning up, what else?" he answered as he carefully picked up the glass pieces of what had used to be cup and dropped them onto the dust pan.

"I can see that, but—why? This is my house, you know. Just let me clean it up by myself," she retorted, stepping closer and taking the cleaning tools away from his grasp.

He gave out a sigh and looked at her, his emerald eyes staring into her amethyst ones. "Can't a friend help his buddy?" Reaching out, he took hold of the broom that was still in Alice's grip. "Besides, I'm going to be your personal manservant just for today, anyway," he said with a smirk. "Let me help you out."

Alice couldn't help the smile that lifted her lips at the word 'manservant.' "Geez, fine then! Since you're offering to be a helping hand..." She scratched her head meekly, looking off to the distance at the new-found feeling of being helped so earnestly. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to have another person to help too."

With a grin, the blonde grinned. "All right then! Let's fix this place up quickly!" he said with a cheerful voice. He was about to continue picking up the glass shards on the floor with his bare hands once again, but Alice stopped him with a tap on the shoulder. Looking up, he saw how she was holding oven mittens that she had somehow snagged from the counter without him noticing, although he wasn't even sure if he could pick up small shards with them. Oh well, at least he knew that he wouldn't be slicing his fingers on accident now. "Thanks."

"D-Don't even mention it, you manservant," she briskly murmured before she stalked off to the living room to tidy up the ransacked place. He couldn't help but chuckle at her embarrassment. Alice, on the other hand, was mentally beating herself up as an attempt to pull herself together.

_'…Seriously, what's up with me today?'_

Shaking her head, she attempted to push away her own delusional thoughts and focused more on getting her apartment room back to how it used to as much as they possibly could. Not a single word was said from the two teens as the hours passed by. It didn't mean that they were thinking to themselves though.

"...Alice."

She froze uncharacteristically at the calling of her name, unfamiliar with the tone he spoke with: stern, along with a feeling of concern as if he was going to confront her. "Yeah?" she replied, getting a hint about what he was going to talk about.

"Is...Is there anything you want to tell me?"

With a sigh, she closed her eyes. She knew he was going to ask that sooner of later. "There's nothing," she said, secretly hoping that he would let the subject drop.

He didn't. "Look, Alice. I know that there's something wrong."

_'Damn him.'_"Look, Oz," she mocked him in the same tone he was using. "There's nothing that you need to know." And she turned her back to him, acting as if there really wasn't anything that was bothering her. Just when the blonde was going to protest, she quickly cut in. "But—But if I do, I'll tell you, all right?"

A short moment of silence ensued them, and Alice couldn't help but swallow the tension down. To what seemed like an eternity, Oz finally spoke.

"I'll be here whenever you need me," he said, secretly hiding the disappointment that was threatening to appear on his face and voice.

A pang of guilt shot through her at that. Immediately wanting to escape the serious atmosphere, Alice just plastered a half smirk on her face. "Even when you're in the middle of molesting your students?" she joked, raising an eyebrow at him when she turned to face him.

"Of course," he said in a heartbeat.

She couldn't stop the surprised look she threw at him. It didn't even take him a second to think about what she had said. "...Seriously?"

Now it was his turn to smirk at the brunette. "Who said that I wasn't a player?"

She casted him a half-hearted glare. "You dirty child molester."

"Thanks, beautiful."

A shoe came flying straight at him.

* * *

**.:truemyheart:.**

The warm sunlight shimmered over the building slowly as the sun began to set. In the distance, soft, melodic notes resounded gently throughout the entire school, given for how empty and quiet the atmosphere was. The familiar tune of a particular song was strung together, changing the empty air into a soothing one. A young, beige-haired man sat there in front of the piano, his long fingers smoothly pressing the keys accurately as if they knew the song by instinct. For a few short, yet long minutes, all that could be heard was the song that was being played by him, the tune sounding as if it was luring you into a sweet dream.

That is, until his fingers paused mid-air when he heard the slight sound of something—no, someone. _'Was it just my imagination?' _He glanced over at Leo, who was sitting in a chair next to him with a book in his hand. The assistant looked back at him with a knowing look, obviously showing that he heard the sound too.

Shrugging to himself, he decided to continue playing, seeing if whoever was making noises was going to continue. Sure enough after a minute, he could slightly decipher the voice of a female softly following the tune of the piano. He gave Leo a look, cocking his head towards the door, which was where the source of the voice was coming from.

With a sigh, Leo closed his book and walked over to the door, all the while being quiet or else he'd get his ass kicked by the pianist for scaring away whoever it was.

The pianist expected the raven-haired guy to slowly creep against the door and peek out, although that would totally make Leo look like a stalker. But he didn't. Instead, he walked straight to the door and went out, looking for the person who was making noises.

What he saw completely made him do a double take.

The Prefect stood there frozen in place, the only sound disturbing them is the sound of her kittens mewling in her arms. Fumbling thoughts were swirling in her head, trying to figure out an excuse to why she was just standing there in front of the music room. Strenuous seconds passed by, not a word being said between the two. That is, until a certain beige-haired man came stomping towards to the door, annoyed by how Leo was just standing there.

"Leo!" he shouted, walking up to the other man. "What the hell is taking you—"

The words died on his tongue when he saw the girl he detested so much once again that day.

* * *

That's all for now! I'll _try_ to update monthly from now on, although I can't be sure since school's throwing more work at me lately.;; Anyway, I'm still not sure as to where I'm taking this, but suggestions are welcome, along with reviews! Thank you everybody, and I love you all! (By the way, as an extra note, I'm also in the middle of re-writing the earlier chapters and working on another fan-art that'll come with a speed-paint for Pandora Hearts! I'm planning on using it for the cover of this fan-fic. /Oz and Alice are on it, ohoho/ I'll update you guys later if you want to see the finished product!)  
Until next time~


	8. Relent Feelings

Hello, lovely readers~ (You guys probably forgot my existence, LOL) Kill me if you may, but I'm back from an unannounced hiatus (oops) from school, and now summer's here! Which means that I _will_ have time to update this fanfic more! :3

On another note, I wonder if you guys have noticed the different image of Alice and Oz on this fanfic~ It's another fanart of Pandora Hearts that I recently finished last month, to which you can **view on my deviantArt page**. (www. neyuchi. deviantart. com) w/o the spaces, and the **video of the making of it on my YouTube page**~ ( www. youtube .com user/neyuchi) without the spaces. I would really appreciate it if you guys took a look at them~ Direct links are at the end of this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts or any of the characters. It solely belongs to Mochizuki Jun~

Please excuse the errors that I probably missed from my quick proofreading and enjoy~! o u o)/

* * *

**True My Heart**

**neyuchi**

**Chapter 8:**

**Relent Feelings**

_'...You've got to be kidding me.'_

Silence. It was all that could be heard between the trio, excluding the faint ticking of the clock resounding from the music room and the confused mewling of the kittens that were snuggled safely in her arms. The two men were standing in front of her, unmoving. She did the same from her position on the floor, realizing that she must have stumbled over her feet and fell from surprise in that short moment. Despite the quickened, hammering sounds of her heartbeat practically bursting inside of her chest, she took a deep breath. Attempting to calm her wracking nerves, the Prefect tried to not look so suspicious from what had just happened a minute ago (even though she was just caught red-handed). However, that proved difficult when she felt two gazes practically boring holes into her scalp as if they were watching her every single move.

_'S-Say something, Ada!'_ the blonde girl encouraged herself. _'You're just making this more awkward than it should be!'_

Mustering whatever courage she had left, she lifted her head up before making contact with their bewildered eyes and giving them a stiff wave. "U-Uhm, hi...?" she squeaked lamely. _'...Oh Abyss, kill me now.'_

No reply was uttered from neither of them. Discouraged at how unresponsive they were, she was about turn around and inch away from the two, knowing that she was already screwed when suddenly, a large hand was thrusted in front of her face.

Wondering about whose hand it was, she looked up at the hand's owner and was stunned to see Elliot standing there with his hand outstretched towards her. His gaze was directed towards the wall beside them, looking at anything but the girl on the floor. She was confused though. The last time she checked, she was definitely sure that he didn't really give a crap about his manners towards girls, or to be more specific, her.

Elliot, seeing how the blonde Prefect wasn't even taking his offered hand after a good minute, he turned his gaze to glare irritably at the girl, only to meet with an astonished face. She was looking at him as if he had just grown two heads. _'What is she doing?'_ he thought. Didn't she see that he was actually _helping **her?**_ A Vessulius, for Abyss's sake?

Sucking his teeth out of annoyance, he reached down to grab the still-dumbfounded girl's arm, opting to dragging her ass up from the floor instead. What he didn't expect, however, was her sudden change in demeanor when her entire body flinched violently at his rough touch as if he had just slapped her across the face.

_'What the hell—?'_ Letting go in surprise of the possibility that he had somehow injured her in some way, he took a step back as a precaution. The kittens in Ada's arms began to struggle out of her grasp, rubbing against her legs in worry of their young owner. The Prefect quickly stumbled to her feet, her arms hugging herself tightly as if they were holding her entire body together in one piece.

"I-I'm sorry," she mumbled in a quiet voice, "I-I should probably leave now. Ex-Excuse me." Taking that opportunity to escape from the two, she swiftly whipped around and began to walk away.

Elliot couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He was suspicious about the way she was suddenly acting, sensing that she wasn't being like her usual, stupid self, as mean as that sounded. Shooting a confused look towards Leo, who stood beside him without a word, he wondered what was her problem. He gave one last glance at the receding girl without much thought.

And that was when he saw it.

His hand instinctively shot out and grabbed her upper arm firmly before he could even comprehend on what was happening. Nonetheless, that effectively stopped the blonde girl dead in her hurried steps. "Wait," he ordered. With one good look at her pained expression, he knew that she was extremely terrified. For whatever reason, he didn't know, but he was going to find out soon.

His long fingers deftly slid under her chin as he gently tilted her cheek towards him, causing her to squeeze her eyes tightly at his unfamiliar touch while he inspected the skin on her cheek.

Before Ada could even begin to protest for him to release her, she felt him turning her entire body so that she faced him. Without a word and a stern expression on his face, he promptly yanked her school uniform's jacket off of her body before he proceeded to pull up her school shirt's long sleeves. _'No—' _Instantly horrified at his actions, she desperately attempted to break free from his firm grasp, hoping that he wouldn't see what was under her clothing.

She was too late, though. He saw it.

His eyes widened at the view in front of him when he confirmed his suspicions. "...Bruises...?" he quietly murmured in pure shock. Terrible, discolored splotches tainted what used to be flawless skin on Ada, almost covering half of her frail arms. Hell, if he were to take off her entire uniform, he was sure that half of her body would be covered in bruises, some of them new and some old. He decided against the choice though, knowing that it was unnecessary and that he would sure get a slap on his face in return for stripping a female student.

Even so, he was completely enraged. Never in his life had he seen such harsh treatment to a girl. A pure, innocent girl, on top of that, even if she was the daughter of one of the people he despised so much. Just with one look at her face, he could tell that she was terrified to the core.

"Who did this to you?" he bit out between gritted teeth, his eyes narrowing dangerously. She didn't respond and opted to remain silent, only turning her head away in response. Resisting all urges to shake the girl senseless until she said a word about the culprit, he reached over and grabbed both of her shoulders in his hands, careful to not bruise them more than they already were. In a calmer tone, he attempted to ask her again. "Tell me, Vessulius. Who did this to you?"

Ada bit her lip, feeling a bit pressured. She couldn't tell him. Not now, and she didn't think she could with a straight face anyway. Shaking her head furiously, she kept her mouth shut, not daring to say anything. Attempting once again to shrug his hands off of her, she wished that he would just let her go, that he wouldn't ask her about it anymore—that he would just continue to ignore her like he always did.

"Pl—Please, let me go, Elliot," she almost cried quietly. "This is none of your business—"

What she was about to say immediately made him snap. "_What?_" he growled. "_'None of my business?'_" He almost gave out a scoff of exasperation. "Will you look at yourself, you idiot?! You're in no position to be telling me that it's none of my damn business and act like nothing happened!"

He was pissed. He knew that he shouldn't be yelling at her, but he couldn't just be oblivious to the situation, even though they weren't on close terms. Not only would that make him look like a selfish bastard, but a coward as a teacher as well to not take action. And he definitely did not want to stoop that low and turn a blind eye towards one of the students, especially her.

Once her emerald eyes finally made contact with his angered sapphire ones, he felt a pang of guilt when he saw how they were brimming with thick tears. Taking a deep sigh and running a hand through his beige strands of hair, his expression softened as if he was never angry. "Look, I'm just...I'm just worried about you, Ada." When she stared at him in bewilderment, he felt a warm heat crawling up into his face. Quickly whipping his head away from her, he stammered out, "D-Don't misunderstand, you idiot! I'm just worried as an adult, that's all!"

He was about to walk away from her from embarrassment when he heard a giggle coming from the girl. He turned back to her to throw an insult at her for laughing at him, but the words once again died on his tongue when he saw the tears streaming down her face as she tried to maintain a smile on her lips.

"S-Sorry," Ada said, "I-I'm really happy that you said that, Elliot—I really am." She was overwhelmed with feelings. Full of happiness. Full of relief. Full of...guilt.

He was surprised when her smile vanished and she burst out into a small sob, her knees shaking before they buckled under her. The next thing she knew, she was clinging onto Elliot like a scared baby, releasing all of her pent-up feelings through her bawls. The man was bewildered, wondering for a slight second on how he was in such a predicament. He honestly didn't know what to do with situations like this. But seeing how the girl was clutching onto him as her body shook with her sobs, he couldn't help but wrap an arm around her shaking body and pat her head awkwardly in an attempt to comfort her.

"...It's okay, Ada," he mumbled, "It's okay."

* * *

**.:truemyheart:.**

It's been a week ever since the clean-up at Alice's apartment.

And oh, how she hoped that her life would finally go back to normal. She hoped that she wouldn't have to be involved with that idiotic blonde teacher once again. She hoped that she could just stay hidden from the rest of the world and go back to school like what a normal high-schooler should do. She thought that she could really do just fine by herself on her own.

However, The Will of Abyss must really hate her, because none of her wishes or desires came true. To be exact, the complete opposite was happening to her.

_'...I hate you, Abyss.'_

* * *

**.:truemyheart:.**

_Three days ago..._

"Wh-What did you say?" The words came out of Alice's mouth in utter shock as the brunette stared at the elderly woman standing in front of her with blank eyes. The brunette's apartment had been tidied up that , but had been previously stuffing her face with the plate of chicken in glee in her now-clean kitchen when her doorbell suddenly rang, disrupting her lunch much to her distaste. Now, they were standing in the doorway of Alice's apartment and right beside Alice was Oz, who had invaded her home uninvited with food and was now leaning on the wall with his arms crossed as he listened to their conversation silently without being noticed by the elderly woman.

The landlady gave out a long sigh, obviously not wanting to repeat the dreaded news to the girl. "Like I said, I want you to move out, dear," she repeated her words. "The damage that was done to your apartment room will take quite a while to repair, and those thugs are scaring away the other residents." She gave Alice a sorry look. "I'm sorry, dear, but I think it's best and safer for you to move somewhere else."

...She must be joking. This was bullcrap. "W-Wait a minute—" Alice stuttered, "I can't just move out on such a short notice! And what about the rent and fees? It's not even the end of the month yet and I haven't even gotten the bills! What am I supposed to do?" She felt as if the life was slowly draining away from her as each second passed. She couldn't believe that this was happening to her.

"Of course, you'll still have to pay, dear. I can just send you the bills to you whenever they come later," the woman replied, much to her dismay. "In the meantime, you'll have to move out soon by the end of this week."

Great. Just _great._ It was a Thursday, which meant that she had to leave in three days_. _Alice barely had any money in her bank account, and now she pretty much got kicked out of her house? Well, it wasn't really a house, but still. She knew that she wouldn't be able to find a place nearby convenient all of a sudden that could fit her budget. Ugh. She suddenly had an urge to rip out her hair and slam her fist into the wall (and possibly make a hole in it and end up adding more money to her bill), or better yet, the idiotic blonde named Oz.

So what's next in her already-crappy life? They're going to take away all of her belongings and then throw her out onto the dirty street?

Her body began to shake in anger at the thought. Opening her mouth, she was about to let out a rude retort when she suddenly felt a hand clamp down onto her shoulder before giving it a short squeeze in an attempt to calm her. Glancing at the hand's owner, her words and thoughts were stopped when she saw Oz standing alarmingly close to her in the doorway, making his presence known to the landlady. Seeing that disgustingly flirty look on his face, she immediately knew what he was going to do. _'Oh Abyss, don't tell me he's—'_

A gasp of surprise slipped out of the elder woman's mouth when she set eyes on the handsome blonde man, and Alice knew right then and there that the woman was already dazzled by Oz in just a few seconds.

"Oh my~!" the landlady cried out in a _much_ softer tone than she had a few seconds earlier with Alice, which pissed the brunette off. "I've never seen such a handsome man like you around this neighborhood before! What's your name, sweetie?" Alice couldn't help but grimace at the woman's overly sweet tone. _'Gross,'_ Alice thought bitterly.

A charming smile instantly graced Oz's lips. With a bow of his upper torso in respect, he introduced himself to her. "My name is Oz Vessulius; Alice's teacher. It's a lovely pleasure to meet such a beautiful woman like you, Miss," he said in smooth voice.

...Oh Abyss, was that a blush Alice saw on the landlady's cheeks? Surprised by the teacher's flattering words, the elder lady fumbled for words. "O-Oh goodness, what a charmer you are!" Grasping Oz's hands into her owns, she caressed them ever so gently. "I believe I haven't introduced myself yet; I'm the owner of this place. You can just call me Miss~"

Alice silently gagged behind them, horrified at the sight beginning to occur in front of her eyes. She knew that Oz was a flirt, but even towards _old women?_ Ew. Just ew.

"It seems that my student has been causing trouble for you and the other residents. I should say sorry in her stead." Oz was about to bow again for forgiveness, but was immediately stopped by the landlady who profusely refused his apology. "Please, Miss, you should at least let me pay for the expenses. I don't think I would be able to sleep in peace from seeing one of my students suffer from debt."

A vein throbbed in Alice's head. _'What the hell does my debt has to do with you, idiot?'_ she began to think, but when she felt his hand that had somehow slipped out of the landlady's grasp squeeze her shoulder again comfortingly, it dawned on her that he was actually trying to help her.

"Oh no! No, no, that won't do!" The elder lady shook her head in disagreement. "How can I let such a sweetheart like you pay the bills for your own student?" Right when Alice thought that she was going to demand Alice to pay them for herself, the landlady said something that was much, _much_ better. "How about this? The bills are free of charge! But in repayment...I'd love a lovely day out with you!"

At that, Alice suddenly felt a burst of emotions crash into her. She felt like she was going to cry, laugh, and jump in the air all at the same time. Hell, she could even jump off of a cliff too. Instead, she suppressed those overflowing emotions of hers and allowed a huge grin to lift her face. With a deep bow, she felt the tears prick at her eyes. "Thank you very much, Miss!" she cried out to the elder gratefully.

The landlady, realizing that the girl was still there, smiled at the younger girl and patted Alice's head. "No need to thank me, dear. You should thank your teacher for giving me a chance for a date with him~"

Alice lifted her head and glanced at the said teacher in amusement. Holding in a snort, she nodded at the lady in agreement. "Yes, I hope you enjoy your _date_ with Mr. Vessulius, Miss!" she giggled, only to feel daggers being glared at to the back of her head.

After the landlady had left, Alice gave out a sigh of relief as she closed the front door. When she turned around, she saw Oz standing there with a disgruntled expression on his face, obviously not pleased.

"You owe me, you bra—" He was cut off from finishing his sentence when suddenly, the brunette crashed into his body, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. He froze at the abrupt contact. The girl's body shuddered slightly as she felt a huge weight being lifted from her shoulders, and she couldn't help the happiness that was bursting up inside of her.

"...Thank you so much, Oz!" She loosened her hold on him and leaned her head back enough to face him. "I'm just so—happy! I don't know how I can repay you for pulling me out with that debt."

At that, a smirk lifted the man's face. "Hmm~" He faked an expression of thoughtfulness. "How about a date—"

"**No.**"

He pretended to look hurt. "I didn't even finish my sentence!" he whined.

"I knew what you were going to say, you creep!"

"Aw, come on! Why not, Alice? It's just one petty little date~"

The girl had completely let go of the blonde and was now back in the kitchen to her plate of meat. "Why the hell should I go on a date with you, of all people? I'm pretty sure that the landlady would just _love_ to go with you."

Oz made a face at the mention of the owner. "Don't even. I'd rather die than have myself being seen with her."

"...Would you rather a homeless man then?"

"Alice!" Oz cried out exasperatedly. His expression of horror soon changed to a serious one though when he locked eyes with the brunette. "Enough with that. Look, we need to talk about where you're going to live, now that you just got evicted from this place."

The amusement on Alice's face died down when she heard that, and her meat suddenly became unappealing to her. Sitting down on a stool nearby, she forced herself to swallow down the food in her mouth before she sighed. "I can just go find another place to crash at; no big deal," she said in a dismissing manner.

"Oh yeah? Like where?" Oz challenged her.

"...My mansion."

At the mention of that place, old memories flooded Oz's mind during that Christmas at Alice's place so many years ago. As far as he had remembered, it was pretty far from Sablier, and he knew that Alice wouldn't have the money to travel from here to there and back every day. He shook his head at the choice. "I don't think that's a good idea, Alice."

Alice stayed silent for a few seconds before she opened her mouth. "If not, then where the heck am I supposed to stay at?" she demanded.

A thought must have entered Oz's mind, because she saw the guy brighten up instantly. What he said next made her regret asking that question.

"...What about my house?"

* * *

**.:truemyheart:.**

With a grunt of annoyance, Alice squeezed through the doorway of the house carrying a cardboard box bigger than her torso, the tips of her brown hair and the rest of her lower body was all that could be seen behind the stuff in her hands. Leaning onto the side wall of the entrance as support, she quickly slipped and threw off her shoes before stumbling inside of the slightly familiar house for the second time in her life. Placing the box down next to another cardboard box on the floor, the brunette gave out a heavy sigh before she heard another person entering the house behind her. She also heard him curse quietly when he almost slipped over Alice's shoes that were astray on the floor, which made her smirk.

"Sheesh, Alice," a guy's voice called out to her as he walked in. "Do you usually have so much _junk_?" He set the box down next to the brunette, scanning his emerald eyes over the new luggage that was now taking up a small portion of his living room.

That earned him a sharp jab in the ribs and a glare from the girl. "Oh, shut it," she muttered. "You call three small boxes of my stuff a lot? You must be out of your mind. Besides, if you don't like it, I can just leave."

Oz let out a chuckle at how Alice showed a bitter expression as if she knew that she had too little for a typical teenager from her own entire apartment. "I was just joking," he told her. Her expression didn't change, so he tried a different approach. "Oh come on, don't get your only pair of panties in a bunch, Alice~"

Said girl's mouth dropped in shock as her eyebrows shot up, completely flabbergasted. When she recovered a second later, an expression of anger masked her features. "I do _not_ have one pair of panties, you disgusting pervert!" she practically hissed at him. "Why the hell did you think that I only have one pair?!"

The blonde guy turned away from the steaming brunette and proceeded to plop onto the couch. Not even throwing a glance over his shoulder at her, he just closed his eyes and propped his feet against the coffee table in front of him. "From you sorry excuse of a closet, there's where. I looked all over the place and couldn't find any of your underwear—" A slipper clocked him in the back of his head, effectively cutting him off.

"D-Don't go looking through a girl's closet, you pervert!" the brunette shrieked, a lovely shade of red beginning to blossom onto her face.

"Even if I still do, I'm pretty sure that there's nothing interesting to look at anyway."

That sent a painful stake through her entire body. "Wh-What the hell did you just say...?" she growled, stomping towards the relaxed blonde on the couch.

"Your. Wardrobe. Sucks," Oz chimed in an overly cheery tone as he emphasized every single word, his emerald eyes now looking dead at her amethyst ones.

Oh, she was pissed now. Very _very_ pissed. He was trying to rub more salt into her newly-opened wounds, and she wasn't going to tolerate that any longer. "You jerk—!" She started to raise her arm to whack the crap out of the smirking man in front of her, but before she could do so, she was a second too late to realize that the situation had ended up in the opposite way than what she had expected.

He was embracing her.

_'Oh Abyss, kill me now.'_

She was pressed into Oz's own body as one of his arms wrapped around her waist while the other grasped her raised arm. He had taken that chance to yank her towards him, and now she was in an uncomfortable predicament. She didn't particularly like being pulled around like a rag-doll by this blonde man, but she couldn't deny that she liked being hugged by him. But before her thoughts could stray, she slapped herself mentally to get herself out of her delusions.

"Could you get your filthy hands off of me?" she hissed, pushing herself away from the man's body.

"Nope~" She felt like strangling him.

Before she could say anything else (most likely a negative insult), he spoke again. "You really should go shopping for some new clothes though. I mean, you're going to start living here now. Might as well have a fresh start," he said, pushing her shoulders up so that he could face her.

His grip on her had loosened a while ago before he said that, so Alice proceeded to slip away from his grasp and opted to sit next to him as she crossed her arms, a look of annoyance on her face. "It's not like I wanted to live here, you know," she bit out.

"You had no other choice," he pointed out.

Alice glared as her expression hardened. "I _do_ have another choice. I could go back to my mansion like what I said before."

Oz flickered his emerald eyes towards the blank television screen sitting in the corner of the room. "It doesn't seem like you want to, though," he muttered. "Your expression says it all. You don't even have anything from your mansion, either. Not even a photo of your family or anything of the sort."

She was stunned. Had he been paying that much attention to her? Even though she felt a sense of gratitude that he cared, she was angry that he was assuming things about her. Standing up in one swift movement, she started to walk away from him and towards the boxes on the floor. She didn't want to talk about this anymore. "Don't act like you know everything about me when you left me in the dirt for five years, Oz," she spat out with malice before stomping away with all three of her boxes stacked on top of one another in her arms.

When she was gone, he couldn't suppress the bitter smile that appeared on his face. "...'Don't act like you know everything about me,' huh?"

* * *

And that's all for Chapter 8~ I was planning on adding more to this chapter since it's kinda short, but I decided to add that to the next chapter just so that I'd be able to update again soon~ I'm currently working on Chapter 9, along with rewriting Chapter 1 of this (since it's crap, lol), so look forward to that by the end of this month! o w o

So what's gonna happen now, now that Alice got kicked out of her home, crashed at Oz's place, and is already back to being hostile towards Oz? On the other hand, Ada's secret has been discovered by the guy who dislikes her so much, and everybody else in this story didn't make an appearance. = v =;; Where am I leading this story towards to, lol? It's turning into a cheesy, tragic romantic story. /shot/

Like what I mentioned above, I've recently finished another fan-art for Pandora Hearts, which is currently the cover art for this fanfic~ **You can visit the drawing at**: without the spaces ( fav. me/ d66ntv6)  
I've also made a **speed-paint** of the drawing,** which you can watch here** if you'd like to waste 9 minutes of your life, LOL: without the spaces (youtu. be / wRNlOnK4BJE)

I'd love a watch, like, comment, subscription from you guys~ /totally fishing for more love, LOL/

Anyway, thank you so much for reading~ Now that summer's here, I'll be uploading at least twice or 3 times a month to catch up on the time I totally wasted for this fanfic, ahaha;; So hopefully by August, this fanfiction would be at around Chapter 13 or so. I'm sure you guys would really like that, right? xD

Again, thanks for reading, and I'd really appreciate a review, favorite, follow, or anything~ Give meh some love to inspire meh to get the next chapter up soon! I'll be giving you guys replies and shout-outs at the end of each chapter once again~ Love you guys! Until next time~


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